A Denton County man was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the 2019 murder of his pregnant sister.
Eduardo Arevalo, who was 19 years old at the time of the crime, pleaded guilty to felony murder in the death of his 23-year-old pregnant sister, Viridiana Arevalo, per Fox 4 KDFW.
Viridiana was first reported missing by her boyfriend on December 17, 2019. Five days later, officials found her dead in an alley in the 5200 block of Strickland Avenue, per NBC 5 DFW.
Evidence gathered from the crime scene led investigators to suspect Eduardo may have contributed to his sister’s death.
When questioned, Eduardo admitted to killing his sister on December 16 due to an “ongoing conflict in the family caused by the victim’s mental health conditions,” per NBC 5.
The arrest affidavit stated the two got into an argument, and Eduardo began to think, “Maybe it’s the time to murder her,” per NBC 5.
He then proceeded to strangle his sister and dump her body in a field roughly one hour north of their house.
Eduardo said that on Sunday, December 22, he went and picked up the body and dumped it in an alley close to their home.
“As the week went on, Eduardo stated that he wanted his family to know where Viri was at so he went and picked up her body and brought her back Sunday morning in the early morning hours and dumped her body in the alleyway,” said Sgt. Aaron Woodard of The Colony Police Department, per Fox 4.
Detectives said a suicide note was also found in the home, but Eduardo admitted that he had written it, hoping to make her death appear to be a suicide, per CBS News.
Sgt. Woodard said Eduardo told detectives his sister “was an embarrassment to her family” and “it would be better off [if] she wasn’t here,” CBS.
At the time of her death, Viridiana was eight months pregnant. She was going to have a baby girl, something her family said she was looking forward to.
“She was excited. She always wanted a sister. She was the only sister in the family. She wanted a little sister but it never happened,” said Diego Arevalo, the oldest brother in the family, per CBS.
Closer to home in Dallas, crime was on the rise during the first four months of the year before crime statistics became “unreliable” due to a purported ransomware attack in early May. In the first four months of the year, homicides were up 23% year to date.
One possible reason for increased crime could be a shortage of officers in the Dallas Police Department. The department currently employs roughly 3,100 officers, much less than the estimated 4,000 needed to adequately manage crime rates.
Dallas’ city center particularly struggles with crime. Fort Worth currently has dedicated police patrols and private security meant to reduce crime downtown, which could help explain why it has a lower crime rate than Downtown Dallas.