A Houston man who ambushed a teenage girl he knew, fatally shooting her outside her home in 2018, was sentenced this week to 75 years in prison, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced.
“No one should ever lose their life to domestic violence, and this case is especially tragic because this woman was so young and had so much to live for—we mourn her loss with her family,” Ogg said.
Irbin Vargas, 29, was convicted of murder for killing 16-year-old Lourdes Sandoval, who was known to friends as “Betty,” on Sept. 12, 2018.
Vargas, who was 22 at the time, had a relationship with Sandoval for about a year. She wanted to make a clean break from him in part, she told friends and family, after he threatened her life and put a gun to her head.
On the night of the murder, Vargas and the teen were texting each other. She told him over text that she no longer wanted to have anything to do with him. About five minutes later, she was walking out of her Greenspoint-area home to meet a friend waiting in a car.
The friend watched the teenage girl walk out of the townhouse and then saw Vargas emerge from the shadows to attack her from behind, shooting her in the head, killing her.
Vargas then fled and was later arrested by officers with the Houston Police Department.
Vargas was convicted of murder in a five-day trial in November. He opted to go to the judge for punishment and was sentenced Tuesday to 75 years in prison.
Assistant District Attorney Philip White, who is a chief in the Homicide Division of the DA’s Office, prosecuted Vargas with ADA Matthew Magill, who is assigned to the Trial Bureau.
“He was a 22-year-old predator who worked to get close to a teenage girl,” White said. “Five minutes after she told him that it was over for good, he killed her.”
Vargas must serve at least 30 years in prison before he will be eligible for parole.