MESA, Ariz. – More than a decade after 14-year-old Claudia Lucero was sexually raped and murdered in Mesa, the man accused of the crime is on trial.
The criminal prosecution of Alex Madrid for the killing of the Westwood High School student in 2013 has recently begun. The 42-year-old suspect is charged with murder, abduction, and leaving a corpse.
Lucero was sexually raped, strangled, and her corpse dumped in a dumpster off Brown Road in Mesa.
Madrid was Lucero’s mother’s estranged ex-boyfriend who had lately left the family home.
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Prosecutors told the jury that Madrid had no cause to be in the family’s apartment on the morning of December 5, 2013, when Lucero was alone and preparing for school.
After “strangling every last breath out” of the youngster, prosecutors claim Madrid prepared her room to make it look as if she had fled home by placing some of her items in a storage container.
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According to prosecutors, after throwing the victim in the trash, the defendant drove to a court hearing scheduled on that day for a minor citation and continued with his day.
The trial might last many weeks in Maricopa County Superior Court. Prosecutors issued a notice in 2014 stating that if Madrid is found guilty of the offenses, he will face the death sentence.