We, the VFFDP, offer our sincere
condolences to the family members of 7-year-old Alyssa Vasquez, who was
murdered by Guadalupe Esparza on June 30, 1999. Justice was served when the
killer was put to death by lethal injection in Texas on November 16, 2011. We
will post quotes from the victim’s family.
Summary:
On June 30, 1999, Guadalupe Esparza abducted Alyssa Vasquez from her home while
her mother was out and the babysitter was next door. He raped and strangled
her, and abandoned her body in a nearby field. On the night of the murder,
before Alyssa Vasquez was discovered missing, Esparza telephoned her residence
several times and came by looking for her mother and asking when she was going
to return home. The babysitter discovered that Alyssa was missing at around
2:30 a.m. and later observed Esparza running down the street away from the
residence. Police found Esparza at his residence, which was one and one-half to
two miles from Alyssa Vasquez’s apartment, at approximately 4:00 a.m., and
found Esparza’s blood-spotted shirt and boxer shorts in a trash can outside the
residence. The evidence also showed that Esparza admitted his involvement in
the offense to a detention guard and to a fellow inmate at the Bexar County
Jail, and implied his involvement to another inmate; the only contrary evidence
was Esparza’s own testimony, in which he denied making these statements.
Scientific testing revealed that Esparza’s DNA was consistent with the DNA
extracted from spermatozoa on Alyssa’s oral swab. UPDATE: Esparza asked
for forgiveness from the victim's family members shortly before he was
executed: "To the family of Alyssa Vasquez, I hope you will find peace in
your heart. My sympathy goes out to you. I hope you find it in your heart to
forgive me. I don't know why all this happened."
QUOTE 1: "The day he gets his death, I'll be
smiling," Berlanga said earlier this year, according to the
San Antonio Express-News. "I cannot forgive. I'll
tell God, 'Forgive me for not forgiving him.'"
QUOTE 2: Before
Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials injected the lethal dose,
Vasquez’s mother, Diane Berlanga, let her feelings be known about what was
about to happen.
“He is going to get what he deserved,” she said.
“He is going to get what he deserved,” she said.
QUOTE 3: "He can never hurt anybody no
more," said Roland Sanchez a cousin of the victim. "He's gone. He's with the devil now."
QUOTE 4: Danny
Mujica, an uncle, was relieved the sentence had finally been carried out.
"We
feel it should have taken place sooner, but I guess better late than
never," Mujica said.
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