An Illinois man who repeatedly stabbed his girlfriend in front of his mother, then called police to confess, has been sentenced to decades behind bars.
Anthony Jimenez, 28, received a 55-year prison sentence on Friday for the murder of 24-year-old Jessica Reyes, the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office said. Jimenez pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in April.
Police were called shortly before 11 a.m. on July 17, 2024, to an apartment in the 1600 block of S. Michigan Avenue in Villa Park, a Chicago suburb. Jimenez had dialed 911 and told the dispatcher, “I stabbed my girlfriend in the neck.”
When officers arrived, Jimenez came to the door with blood on his hands and chest. Inside, they found Reyes bleeding on the floor of a back bedroom. Paramedics took her to a hospital, where she died.
Prosecutors said the couple had been arguing at his apartment about three hours before the killing. Jimenez blocked the door and kept her from leaving, so Reyes climbed down from a third-floor balcony into the parking lot. The two talked and calmed down, and she went back inside to gather her belongings.
The argument flared up again. Prosecutors said Jimenez took a knife from his pocket and drove it into the side of her head.
“As Reyes fought back, Jimenez continued to stab her multiple times about her neck, face, arms, chest and hands and only stopped stabbing Reyes when his mother entered the room,” prosecutors wrote.
Authorities arrested Jimenez at the scene and booked him into the DuPage County Jail, where he has been held ever since.
DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin pointed out that October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
“This tragic case is a stark reminder that domestic violence must never be tolerated or excused, as doing so could result in deadly consequences,” Berlin said. “To Jessica’s surviving family and friends, I offer my sincere condolences on their loss and wish them strength as they continue their lives with just the memories of Jessica to see them through. No relationship should end in violence and as a society, we must all stand together and do what we can to prevent tragedies such as we saw in this case, from ever happening again.”
A GoFundMe page described Reyes as the “most selfless, resilient, and goofiest human being.”
“She accomplished amazing things in her 24 years of life. She served the military for six years and became a veteran not too long ago. No matter what, she was there for people who needed her,” her family wrote.