KAUFMAN, Texas — It’s been nearly 23 years since 25-year-old Francisco Sanchez Salazar was shot to death at the City Coin Laundry in Kaufman in 1994.
KAUFMAN, Texas — It’s been nearly 23 years since 25-year-old Francisco Sanchez Salazar was shot to death at the City Coin Laundry in Kaufman in 1994.
Yesterday, his killer, 46-year-old Alvaro Iglesias-Rodriguez, agreed to a plea deal and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Last year, Kaufman County law enforcement agencies and the Kaufman County Crime Stoppers launched a new monthly “Most Wanted” poster. The first edition, August 2016, featured Iglesias-Rodriguez among five most wanted suspects.
Weeks after its issuance, police say they received an anonymous tip that Iglesias-Rodriguez was living in Wichita, Kansas, under the name Mauricio San Miguel Reyes.
That tip led to the arrest and eventual extradition of Iglesias-Rodriguez from Wichita, Kansas, back to Kaufman, Texas, to stand trial in the murder.
“We are very proud of this plea deal, especially with the limited evidence that we had working for us,” the Kaufman Police Department stated Friday in wake of the conviction.
After his arrest in September 2016, family members revealed to police Iglesias-Rodriguez confessed the murder to them nearly 23 years ago before he fled to Mexico. Three years later, he would return to the United States where he settled in Wichita, Kansas.
Kaufman Police Department Captain Ed Black, throughout the developments in the arrest of Iglesias-Rodriguez, credited several factors in his eventual arrest — the lead investigator in the original 1994 case, Thomas Bohn, had recently returned to the Kaufman Police Department, the many hours of work by all investigators in the case including lead investigator Tommy Black, the Wichita Police Department with their assistance in his apprehension, and the invaluable Crime Stoppers tip.
“This is proof once again that the Crime Stoppers program works,” Black stated at the time of Iglesias-Rodriguez’s arrest. “Without that tip, this fugitive probably would have never been captured.”