Carpentersville man guilty in 2017 fatal stabbing of ex-girlfriend's lover
A Kane County jury deliberated just 45 minutes before convicting a Carpentersville man Thursday of first-degree murder in an ambush, beating, and stabbing of his ex-girlfriend's lover in Elgin.
Carlos F. Lopez, 31, faces up to 60 years in prison when sentenced on June 12 for the death of Bayron Cruz, 36, of South Elgin after a four-day trial before Kane County Judge D.J. Tegeler.
Kane County prosecutors said Lopez has such "extraordinary jealousy" of his ex-girlfriend, with whom he had two children, that he recruited three people to help him attack Cruz in the early morning hours of Aug. 12, 2017, after he met with Lopez' ex for sex in the back seat of a vehicle on the 1100 block Jansen Farm Drive on the city's Far West side.
Cruz, who was married, was the supervisor of Lopez's ex-girlfriend at an manufacturing plant.
Prosecutors presented evidence that Lopez paid two men - Gabriel M. Lopez, 28, who is not related, and Michael Giacomino, 33 - $200 each and had his current girlfriend, Ivette Rodriguez, 23, of Carpentersville, drive to an area; Lopez and the two men pulled a shirtless Cruz from the back of a car, beat him and Lopez stabbing him 16 times with a steak knife.
At trial, Rodriguez, who pleaded guilty in 2018 to obstruction of justice and got an 18-month prison term, testified about how Lopez told her where to drive that night and to not turn around after the three men exited the vehicle.
Prosecutors also had a combination of surveillance video from the scene, security video from when the knife was purchased, and Lopez' recorded confession to Elgin police.
Lopez's defense attorneys attacked Rodriguez' credibility, noting she also faced first-degree murder charges and had pleaded guilty on the condition that prosecutors would later throw out the guilty plea if her testimony was satisfactory in the trial.
Defense attorneys also argued that Lopez wanted to tell Cruz to knock it off and go home to his wife, Lopez' "emotions got the best of him" when he opened the car door and saw his ex-girlfriend having sex.
Giacomino is set for trial on May 11.
Gabriel M. Lopez is serving a 25-year prison term after pleading guilty in August 2019.