Bodies of two teens found in Midland in 2018, now murder suspect faces death after guilty verdict

MIDLAND COUNTY, Texas (KMID/KPEJ)- On Tuesday, July 2, a Midland County jury found 46-year-old Angel Luis Lebron-Rivera guilty of Capital Murder in connection with the 2015 death of two teens.

The defendant was charged with Capital Murder, the only offense for which the death penalty can be imposed. The trial began April 2nd, 2024, and consumed most of the months of April, May, and June. Cases in which the State seeks the death penalty require a special jury selection process that typically takes considerably longer than the evidence itself at trial. Evidence in the trial began on June 25.

Earlier this week, after deliberating for five hours and 45 minutes, the jury returned the guilty verdict and retired for the evening. The same jury will begin hearing additional evidence before deciding whether Lebron-Rivera will be sentenced to the death penalty or punished by life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The evidence presented in the case showed two teens, 18-year-old Ashley Cruz-Rodriguez and 19-year-old John Iglesia-Alvarez, came to Midland from Puerto Rico in 2015 to stay with the defendant and his girlfriend. After only a few months, in October of 2015, both Cruz-Rodriguez and Iglesia-Alvarez were reported missing after losing contact with relatives.

Their whereabouts remained unknown until early in 2018 , when information received by the Midland County Sherriff’s Office brought investigators to a tree farm on County Road 1200 where the defendant had previously worked. Extensive excavations at the property in late January and early February of 2018 eventually uncovered the skeletal remains of both teenagers, whose identities were confirmed through DNA. Through the testimony of experts in firearms, pathology, forensic anthropology, DNA analysis, and the testimony of the Midland County Sheriff’s Department and other witnesses, it was shown that the defendant had shot both victims in the head execution-style and disposed of the bodies in large pits on the property intended for landscaping waste and trash.

Here’s a look at the process MCSO employed to recover the bodies of both teens. This video first aired in January of 2018.

Lebron-Rivera was identified as a suspect after the bodies were found and was apprehended in the Dominican Republic and was extradited back to Midland County in late 2018 and has been in custody since then awaiting trial.

The case is being prosecuted by Midland County District Attorney Laura Nodolf, 1st Assistant District Attorney Tim Flathers, and Felony Trial Team Chief Kyle McCardle. Lebron-Rivera is represented by the office of the Regional Public Defender for Capital Cases based in Lubbock. The trial is being held in the 142nd District Court and presided over by Judge David G. Rogers.

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