Man sentenced to 26 years for Mount Prospect slaying
An Elk Grove Township man convicted in August of the 2010 stabbing death of a Mount Prospect man was sentenced to 26 years in prison Wednesday.
Edwin Paniagua might not have delivered the fatal blows that claimed the life of 52-year-old Jean Louis Wattecamps - an American Eagle baggage handler - on July 21, 2010, prosecutors said. But they argued Paniagua, 20, was just as responsible as the man who did, partner-in-crime Marko Guardiola, 41, a Chicago gang member who previously pleaded guilty to stabbing Wattecamps to death during a robbery gone bad.
Cook County Judge Bridget Hughes sentenced Guardiola to 33 years in prison in May. Hughes also presided over Paniagua's sentencing and trial, during which defense attorneys argued that Guardiola manipulated the then-15-year-old Paniagua, who feared the older man they called an "evil, narcissistic, sociopath" and a "career criminal."
During a videotaped interrogation played for jurors, Paniagua told Mount Prospect detectives that Guardiola called him about midnight on July 20, 2010, and asked to meet him at a convenience store near Paniagua's home and Wattecamps' apartment. Paniagua met Guardiola, who told him they were going to rob someone.
That person was Wattecamps, who Guardiola met earlier that afternoon while hanging out at the Colony Apartments swimming pool with his then-girlfriend Erica Yanez and several other people. After spending several hours drinking and socializing, Wattecamps - whom prosecutors describe as "kindhearted, hospitable and generous" - treated the group to dinner at a nearby fast-food restaurant.
Wattecamps invited the group back to his apartment, where they spent another few hours socializing before dispersing.
Later, Guardiola returned to Wattecamps' apartment with Paniagua and Yanez, who asked to use the restroom. Yanez testified when she returned, she saw Guardiola and Paniagua "tussling" with Wattecamps, whom they bound to a chair. Paniagua searched the apartment and found a knife, which he held to the victim's throat, Yanez said. Both Guardiola and Paniagua struck the victim, she said, adding that Paniagua "was smiling and laughing" when he kicked Wattecamps in his chest. Guardiola stabbed Wattecamps several times in his upper chest and back, striking his heart, lungs and aorta, said Cook County Assistant Medical Examiner Dr. Latanja Watkins, who estimated it might have taken up to 30 minutes for Wattecamps to succumb to his injuries.
Paniagua must serve his entire sentence before he is eligible for parole. He received credit for the more than four years he has spent in custody since his arrest.
He still faces charges of soliciting a Cook County jail inmate to murder Guardiola. He next appears in court on those charges Dec. 8.