Zephaniah “Zephi” Trevino was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Monday after pleading guilty in a 2019 Grand Prairie murder case that gained national attention.
The Dallas County Attorney’s Office said the teenaged Trevino helped set up 24-year-old Carlos Murillo, who was murdered, and Cristian Lobo, who was robbed, at a Grand Prairie apartment.
Trevino was also handed a five-year sentence for robbery, to be served concurrently.
Trevino, then a 16-year-old high schooler, was with two men, Philip Baldenegro and Jesse Martinez, both 18 at the time, when the crimes were committed, the Dallas District Attorney’s Office and police said.
Murillo and Lobo were lured to the apartment by Trevino and were beaten and robbed.
Baldenegro, with whom Trevino was apparently in a romantic relationship, admitted to shooting Murillo and Lobo. Murillo died from his injuries.
In an interview with WFAA in 2020, Trevino’s parents claimed their daughter was a victim of sex trafficking. They asserted that Baldenegro was selling Trevino for sex to Murillo and that Baldenegro and Martinez had threatened her family. Trevino’s mother said her daughter should be released.
“I am angry because she is [in jail]. I’m angry the system has not fought for her, and I am upset because she does not have counseling, and she needs help to heal, and she needs support, and she is not getting that,” Crystal Trevino told WFAA.
Recovered messages from Trevino’s phone apparently demonstrated her inclination to and approval of violence. On one occasion, Trevino replied positively to a message from Baldenegro saying he had a loaded gun and asking who they were going to kill, The Dallas Morning News reported. In another example, Trevino reportedly expressed a desire to shoot up a friend’s home and assured Baldenegro that she didn’t care if anyone was killed in the process.
Baldenegro and Martinez were also arrested in connection with the fatal robbery, police said. The two men are awaiting trial for capital murder. Baldenegro is out on bond, per the DMN, while Martinez was still in jail as of Monday with bail set at over $1.1 million.
Present-day Dallas has seen 159 homicides as of August 20, according to police data, a 5% increase from the same period last year.
Complicating the Dallas Police Department’s ability to respond to crime is its ongoing shortage of police officers. While an analysis suggests that a city the size of Dallas should have about 4,000 officers, Dallas PD currently employs about 3,100.
In comparison, neighboring Fort Worth has seen success in reducing violent crime by implementing a dedicated downtown police force that patrols alongside private security.
