Eddy Reyes, a California man who previously worked for US Customs and Border Protection and pleaded guilty to orchestrating his wife’s brutal kidnapping and murder, has been sentenced to 40 years in federal prison.
According to a press release from the Department of Justice, U.S. District Judge Josephine L. Staton described the 2016 crime as “heinous” and “a product of pure evil.”
Reyes admitted to plotting to kidnap and murder his wife, Claudia Sanchez Reyes, who was also the mother of their son.
The couple immigrated to the United States from El Salvador in 2014, and their relationship was marred by multiple allegations of domestic violence. By 2016, Reyes suspected his wife was having an affair with another man, prompting him to start his plan to kill her.
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He hired his half brother, identified in court documents as “P.O.” and a “one-time gang member and gravedigger in El Salvador,” to carry out the murder, but it was Reyes who led his wife into a deadly trap.
According to the release, on May 6, 2016, Reyes informed Sanchez Reyes that he wanted to take her out to dinner. He picked her up in an SUV he rented for the “occasion,” claiming it was a gift for her.
But the couple never went to dinner; instead, Reyes drove them to his mother’s house, where P.O. was waiting to be picked up in the garage. Once the garage door was closed, P.O. entered the SUV’s cargo area, assaulted Sanchez Reyes, and strangled her with a seat belt.
From that point forward, Reyes and P.O. used Sanchez Reyes’ phone to send texts on her behalf, calling out of work, firing her divorce lawyer, and lying to her mother about finding a new boyfriend and “leaving Reyes and her son.”
Reyes did not report his wife missing for several weeks, waiting until four days after attempting to dispose of evidence from the SUV at Los Angeles International Airport on May 10, 2016. According to the release, Reyes “refused to answer questions, despite having filed the report, until several days later at his lawyer’s office.”
A criminal complaint was filed against Reyes in April 2021, after he was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping Sanchez Reyes.
Reyes’ attorney stated in a sentencing memo that his client claimed P.O. “disposed of her remains.” P.O. is now deceased, and Sanchez Reyes’ body has never been discovered.
Reyes’ cooperation in locating his wife’s body was part of the plea agreement, and the government recommended a 30-year sentence.
The letter read: “based on the family’s anguish at not knowing what happened to their daughter and sister, the government decided to extend a plea offer to defendant with a recommendation from the government for a 30-year sentence if he admitted what happened to Claudia, and a 25-year recommendation if he also assisted in recovering her remains.”
Despite a visit to a possible desert location in “Slab City” with a cadaver dog, Reyes was “unable to locate the spot where he believes the body of Claudia Sanchez Reyes was buried.”
However, the judge was free to impose her own sentence. The agreement included the following provision: “At sentencing, should the Court determine that a sentence higher than 30 years is appropriate, defendant can withdraw his guilty plea and proceed to trial.”
U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada stated, “This defendant committed a despicable, cold-blooded murder of his own wife and is now facing the appropriate consequences.” We extend our heartfelt condolences to the victim’s family and thank the investigators and prosecutors who ensured that justice was served in this case.”
