A man in Fort Worth has pleaded guilty to the murder of a woman who is remembered by one woman as much more than a prostitute or victim of sex trafficking.
Salomon Marquez Sandoval, 22, pleaded guilty to the murder of Jennifer Diaz last Wednesday and was sentenced to 35 years in prison by Judge Robb Catalano in Tarrant County Criminal District Court No.3.
On June 19, 2019, Sandoval stabbed Diaz, 43, to death inside a motel room, wrapped her body in sheets and plastic, and left her in a bathtub. The incident occurred in the 7500 block of Camp Bowie Boulevard West in Fort Worth.
Also in court on Wednesday was Detective Matt Anderson, who wrote the search warrant affidavit that allowed police to arrest Sandoval on the day of the murder.
A few days after Diaz lost her life, her former mentor Rebecca Shingledecker received a call saying she had died.
Shingledecker, 46, met Diaz about five years earlier when she served as her mentor through Tarrant County’s Reaching Independence through Successful Empowerment (RISE) program. The program “helps vulnerable women with extensive histories of prostitution or prostitution-related offenses.”
“When I heard about her death, I was just so sad,” Shingledecker said. “What could have been. What should have been. How we as a society have failed her.”
Shingledecker said Diaz was abused from a young age, spent time in and out of prison, and had a history of prostitution and drug addiction.
Shingledecker said Diaz was a victim of sex trafficking rather than a willful participant in prostitution.
“The voices from people — like her trafficker — they sneak in,” she said.
“She spent so much of her life hurt and abused,” Shingledecker said. “But now she is free and at peace for the first time in her entire life.”
After Sandoval’s sentencing, Shingledecker was the only person in court to speak on Diaz’s behalf. She read aloud a letter from the stand saying, “Jennifer Diaz is more than a statistic.”
“She is more than the choices she made or what was done to her and how her life ended,” Shingledecker said. “She is a mom, a friend, a child of God. She is loved, missed, and worthy of more respect than this world showed her.”
Shingledecker even spoke directly to Sandoval, saying, “Part of me hopes you see her face when you fall asleep, and she’s in your dreams when you’re waking up. Part of me wants you to be eaten up with guilt for the pain you caused her, me, and those that loved her.”
“But then I think about Jennifer. She wouldn’t want me to wish those things on you, so I will not,” Shingledecker said.
After the letter, Shingledecker read a poem Diaz wrote about God during her time in prison.
In the poem’s last line, Diaz read, “Oh, how He has loved me and taught me how to be free.”
After Diaz’s murder, she was almost buried without a proper funeral because authorities could not locate her family. Shingledecker raised awareness and money for a funeral, which caught the attention of someone who knew Diaz’s family.
Her relatives then made arrangements to bring Diaz home to Colorado City, where she was buried among family members.
In the years after Diaz’s death, Shingledecker raised money to install a memorial bench and plaque along Fort Worth’s Trinity Trail in her honor.
“This is a place of rest and shade,” Shingledecker said. “She didn’t have that in her life. She was used to the other side of town where it was chaos.”
The plaque has two photos of Diaz and reads, “Free In The Arms Of Jesus. Revelation 21:4. Worthy, Loved, Missed.”
Shingledecker said she hopes people take notice of the memorial.
“I just want to raise awareness for other Jennifers out there. There’s so many,” she said.