Brandon Cruz sentenced to life in prison for murder of Sandy Cervantes

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - A Lubbock man has been sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to the 2019 kidnapping and killing of Sandy Cervantes.

Brandon Jay Cruz, 35, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Thursday, over four years after Cervantes went missing.

On June 20, 2019, Lubbock police responded to reports of a robbery at Lucky Mart on 34th Street. The victim of the robbery, David Rodriquez, was with Cervantes when his car broke down. While attempting to fix it, two men approached them and threatened them with a pistol. They robbed Rodriquez, tied him up and forced him into the trunk of his own vehicle.

The men, later identified Cruz and 30-year-old Paublo Reyes, kidnapped Cervantes. They drove off in her red Saturn Vue with her in the trunk. They dumped her purse in a trashcan in Abernathy, then shot and killed her. They left her remains in an abandoned house in Hockley County, where she was found ten months after her murder on April 14, 2020. She was identified through dental records by a forensic odontologist.

Cruz was arrested and charged with capital murder in Feb. 2022. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Thursday.

Reyes is still in custody; he is charged with three counts of aggravated robbery, two counts of marijuana possession and failure to identify.

Reyes is being held on a $1,000,000 bond.

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