A Denton County man who killed his pregnant sister and staged it to look like she'd died by suicide will spend 40 years in prison.
Eduardo Arevalo, who was 19 at the time of the killing, was handed down the sentence on June 9 after pleading guilty to a charge of felony murder, according to court records.
Eduardo Killed His Sister for Bringing 'Embarrassment to the Family'
Previously, he had faced life in prison without the possibility of parole for the more serious charge of capital murder in connection with the 2019 death of his older sister, 23-year-old Viridiana Arevalo, who was eight-months pregnant when she died. Police have said Eduardo killed his sister for bringing dishonor to the family with her pregnancy.
"The only reason he gave for killing her was that she was an embarrassment to her family, and he stated it would be better off that she wasn't here," Sgt. Aaron Woodard, public information officer with The Colony Police Department, told ABC13.
Eduardo Confessed to Writing a Fake Suicide Note
On Dec. 17, 2019, Viridiana was reported missing by relatives in The Colony, a suburb of Dallas. Family members initially believed that Viridiana intended to harm herself after authorities found a note amid her disappearance indicating she planned to die by suicide, KDFW reported.
But police at the time said Eduardo later confessed to writing the note himself because he wanted her killing to look like a suicide.
He told detectives that he was embarrassed by his pregnant sister, and did not think she would be a good mother to her baby girl, authorities have said.
Eduardo claimed to police that he strangled his sister as she sat on the couch at their family home following an argument on Dec. 16, 2019, according to the arrest affidavit obtained by KXAS.
After committing the murder, he put her body in his car and dumped it in a remote area outside of the city, police said. He later returned to the area to fetch her body and bring it back to The Colony, where he reportedly dumped it in an alley, according to police. Surveillance cameras reportedly captured Eduardo near the crime scene.
