Diego Uribe of Chicago was convicted to life imprisonment Monday for killing six members of his extended family at their Gage Park home almost seven years ago. The cruelty of the murder astounded the city in February 2016 when the bodies of the victims including two children were located scattered in the small brick bungalow. The family resided in the 5700 block of South California Avenue.
Uribe was convicted last month of shooting his 32-year-old aunt, Maria Martinez, in an attic apartment at the home after soliciting money from her. He later bludgeoned his 38-year-old brother, Noe Martinez, to death when he arrived to investigate the gunshot. When the siblings’ mother was about to call the police, Uribe pushed 58-year-old Rosaura Martinez down a flight of stairs and repeatedly jabbed her.
The Chicago Sun-Times stated that with the help of Uribe's girlfriend, Jafeth Ramos, 25, they rummaged through the house and stole various items, including an Xbox and the contents of a piggy bank.
After forcing Maria Martinez’s children, Leonardo Cruz, 13, and his brother, Alexis Cruz, 10, to help collect the items, he stabbed both of them repeatedly. Then, Uribe waited for their grandfather, 62-year-old Noe Martinez Sr., to come home with food for the family and killed him too.
ABC News reported that evidence against Uribe included DNA retrieved from under Martinez’s fingernails and a small amount of blood that matched that of the former. Also, the prosecutors showed the jury a video in which Uribe confessed some of the details to Chicago police detectives. Uribe's former girlfriend, Ramos, testified against him. Ramos, who was originally convicted of murder along with Uribe, swore as part of a plea deal that called for her to plead guilty to armed robbery and consent to cooperate with the police.
AP News reported that Ramos described in her testimony how Uribe systematically killed each victim. Her sentence is expected to be delivered next month. Uribe refused to give a statement before he was convicted. His counsel stated in court that they planned to appeal. They added that during his trial he could not have killed all six victims by himself. They indicated he was present when the family was murdered in a robbery by four masked men.
