Aurora man guilty of strangling woman to death
An Aurora man who argued he was defending himself when he strangled a woman was found guilty on Friday of first-degree murder.
Kane County Judge David Kliment, who presided over the bench trial, said there was no evidence Getzuri Arellano, 24, was defending himself from Natalie Jiminez, 20, when he attacked her on Dec. 9, 2020, in a bathroom of a house.
Kliment said evidence presented during the trial showed that Arellano had found messages on Jiminez’s phone between her and another man and that Jiminez had indicated she was going to leave Arellano.
Prosecutors said Arellano placed the phone by her bed to provoke a confrontation.
Jimenez went into the bathroom, followed by Arellano. He left, came back and strangled her, Kliment said.
Kliment said he did not find Arellano’s testimony that Jiminez had kicked him in the groin, leading Arellano to grab her by the neck, believable.
“That’s not the reaction to being kicked in the groin,” he said.
Kliment also said it didn’t qualify as second-degree murder.
Arellano faces a minimum sentence of 20 years in prison.
He lived in the 1000 block of Indian Avenue at the time of the crime. Arellano has been held on $3 million bail in the Kane County jail since his arrest.