'Heinous crimes' result in 3 life sentences for machete killer

ADEL, Ia. — Carlos Hernandez-Ventura will spend the rest of his life in prison for attacking and killing three people, including his girlfriend and her teenage daughter, with a machete.

Hernandez-Ventura, 25, received three life sentences without the possibility of parole Friday for the Oct. 29 murders of Lourdes Flor De Leake, 34, Melany Barazza, 14, and Juan Jimenez Tejada, 78, in the Perry home where they all lived.

Due to the "heinousness of the crimes that were committed," Dallas County Judge Paul Huscher ordered the life sentences be served consecutively, assuring Hernandez-Ventura will never be released from prison. He was also ordered to pay $150,000 to the estates of each of the three victims.

When asked by the judge if he'd like to make a statement, Hernandez-Ventura simply replied "no." He sat stoically throughout the 15-minute hearing but fought to hold back tears when a victim impact statement written by Leake's sister was read by Assistant Dallas County Attorney Erica Clark.

"I hope you burn in hell and enjoy the rest of your life in jail, because you are not getting out," Jennifer Hernandez wrote. "You deserve more than a life sentence, because what you did has no words."

Hernandez called the defendant her "worst nightmare" and a "stupid idiot" who is deeply hated by her and her family. She said she is grieving the loss of her beloved sister and niece and isn’t sure if Hernandez-Ventura’s sentence will be enough to relieve her pain.

"You took away their lives. It wasn't because they were sick or because they were in an accident — you took away their lives," she wrote. "Who do you think you are that you get to decide if someone should live or die?

"What person kills the people they supposedly love? Everything you said during court is crap," the letter goes on to say. "No one believes you, despite the stupid acting that you did."

The defendant admitted to killing his girlfriend, her teenage daughter and their landlord when he testified at his trial in March. But he claimed he was ordered to kill them by Leake's estranged husband the day before the slayings.

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Hernandez-Ventura told the jury Daniel Leake was worried his wife and stepdaughter knew of his involvement in drug trafficking. He testified Leake threatened to kill Hernandez-Ventura's family if he did not follow through with the slayings.

Investigators testified they found no evidence to support the defendant's claim.

"Had it been up to me I would have never done such a thing," Hernandez-Ventura said through a Spanish interpreter, sobbing as he took the stand in his defense one day before he was found guilty.  

A letter written by Jimenez Tejada’s son, Jesus Jimenez Lopez, was also read by prosecutors Friday. In it, Jimenez Lopez described the horrific injuries his father suffered from the attack, adding all the good memories he has of his father have been replaced with the image of his mangled body. Jimenez Tejada was hospitalized for two weeks before he died.

"I am the father of a soon-to-be-15-year-old daughter, and I just can’t comprehend how it's possible that someone who loves their family would commit such a crime and in such an inhumane manner," Jimenez Lopez wrote. "Please make sure this heartless individual is kept in jail for the rest of his life.

"Even so, a life sentence would not be enough as his rampage took innocent lives."

Leake and Hernandez-Ventura, who moved to Perry from Virginia, had moved in together approximately one month before the killings. Leake worked as a waitress at the Casa de Oro restaurant in Perry. She has two other children. Barazza was a freshman at Perry High School who participated in track and swimming.

Tejada was a regular at the restaurant where Leake had worked and opened his home to the family. He was known around town as Don Juanito and regularly called into the local Spanish radio station to tell the hosts stories about his life. He rode his bike around town, carrying a radio with him as he peddled.

The jury took just two hours to decide Hernandez-Ventura's guilt on all three counts of first-degree murder on March 21. Iowa law requires a minimum life sentence for the charges.