A man who fled the U.S. shortly after being accused of the 1991 killing of his estranged wife in West Falls Church will sit behind bars for the next two decades.
Jose Lazaro Cruz, 60, was sentenced yesterday (Thursday) to 20 years in prison for the stabbing death of Ana Jurado, which occurred more than 30 years ago in the 3100 block of Cofer Road.
Lazaro Cruz, who was 28 years old when the slaying took place, fled to his native country of El Salvador shortly after a warrant was issued for his arrest. He later established a new life in Costa Rica, ultimately starting a new family there, according to court documents.
Lazaro Cruz was detained two years ago by Costa Rican authorities, who extradited him to the U.S. earlier this year. In August, he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
Before the sentencing yesterday, Edgar Jurado — the eldest son of Lazaro Cruz and Ana Jurado — told a Fairfax County Circuit Court judge that he had long awaited the day that his mother’s killer would appear in court.
“I’m glad that he’s here,” Edgar Jurado said, “and I believe that we will get justice for this.”
Prosecutors sought the maximum 40-year sentence, while the defense argued that the trouble-free life Lazaro Cruz has led since the incident merited a lesser punishment.
“We obviously don’t sentence the crime, we sentence the person,” defense attorney Joseph Collins said.
The defense painted a picture focused on Lazaro Cruz’s troubled upbringing, one that allegedly saw him fight in the Salvadoran Civil War at 12 years old and normalized violence from a young age.
Despite that, Lazaro Cruz had worked to overcome an alcohol dependency, become a business owner and get active in his local religious community, Collins said.
“The court can’t go back in time and punish the 28-year-old, who was none of those things,” Collins said.
Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Eric Clingan, who was the lead prosecutor on the case, challenged Lazaro Cruz’s story, alleging that accounts in different court documents didn’t line up with each other.
Further, Clingan noted that Lazaro Cruz claimed six of his siblings lived in Virginia or Maryland, but they were unable to be contacted to verify his background, and none of them were present in the courtroom.
“There is something incogent about what he has told a probation officer … and what he told the court,” Clingan said, adding that Lazaro Cruz had “postponed payment of a societal debt. That payment is due today, with interest.”
Though Virginia abolished traditional parole in 1995, Lazaro Cruz will be eligible for geriatric parole in five years, according to the state code.
