• BY JULIE NEAL - Alice Echo-News Journal
• Originally published August 25, 2011 at 10:57 p.m., updated August 25, 2011 at 10:57 p.m.

Audible sobs were heard from the courtroom Wednesday afternoon as Carlos Zuniga, 42, was found guilty of the murder of April Ann Repka, of Victoria, on July 16, 1991, and sentenced to 30 years in jail.

After two-and-a-half days of testimonies and case presentations, it took the jury about two hours to decide the fate of Zuniga.

Twenty years ago, Victor Oritz, 19-year-old Repka and Zuniga drove to Alice, stopping at Zuniga's house to see his brother, Joe, said District Attorney Armando Barrera. While they waited in the car, Repka noticed about $300 missing from a stash she had underneath the seat.

After initially denying it, Zuniga admitted he stole the money and said he would give it back after they went to the store. On the way to the store, the defendant said he needed to go to the bathroom, so the three pulled over in a field near Farm-to-Market roads 462 and 625. According to witness Ortiz, Zuniga flung Repka's door open, ripping her out of the car, Barerra said.

Missing person case

In his testimony, Ortiz said he fled, but saw Zuniga stab the girl. After Ortiz was threatened if he didn't come back, he returned to the scene where Repka was sitting on the ground, Barerra said. Zuniga stabbed the woman again.

The stabbing victim became a missing person case after Repka's father reported his daughter missing four days later.

According to Barerra, nine months later, the two men went to Repka's grandmother and demanded she write them two checks. Although both endorsed by Ortiz, he claims Zuniga cashed them.

Ortiz fled to Mexico for several years and upon his return to the United States was charged in the forgery in 2008 in Florida.

In 2004, a farmer found skeletal remains in a field, and in 2007, using DNA, the remains were identified as Repka's.

Cold cases a priority

In Victoria County, the home county of both Zuniga and Repka, Sheriff T. Michael O'Connor made it a personal mission to go through cold cases when he took the job in 2005.

"Now that DNA has improved and is better utilized, better understood, we felt like we needed to run this through," he said.

Victoria officials, assisted by the FBI and Jim Wells County investigators, reopened the case after further searches revealed more bones and personal items, including Repka's class ring.

"Lt. Tommy Copeland and I went to see the family when we were about to open the case," O'Connor said. "That was probably the hardest thing to do because it had been 16 years at that point, and I had to go tell the family that we think that there was foul play with their daughter. That was pretty difficult."

Zuniga was arrested in June 2008 and charged with capital murder in early 2009.

Graphic photos

Barerra and his assistant, Marisol Garcia, presented a strong case to the jury, including graphic pictures of bones and a heart-wrenching verbal illustration of Repka's body being eaten by wild animals.

Expert testimony from Dr. Gill King confirmed the bones had been in the field five to 15 years, which fit with the timeline of when the bones were found.

"That poor young girl had been out in the woods 13 years before her bones were discovered," Barerra said.

The defense tried to paint the prosecution's witness, Ortiz, as a liar and the investigation was shoddy, the D.A. said.

"We were well prepared for it, and that's the way the jury saw it," Barerra said.

Maintaining innocence

After appearing jovial during Wednesday's testimony, Zuniga's wife, Leticia Zuniga, let tears drip down her face after the verdict was read. She took the stand before her husband's punishment was decided to tell the jury her husband had never been convicted of any crimes and held a job as an apartment manager.

Zuniga then took the stand maintaining his innocence.

The defense asked for probation.

Repka's parents also took the stand before the punishment phase, struggling to stay composed. They recounted the good girl their daughter was and how hard it has been since she was killed.

Barerra asked the jury for 60 years in prison.

Despite receiving only half of that, Barerra said he was pleased with the decision.

"If the family is satisfied, we are satisfied," he said. "They wanted whoever killed their daughter to pay for it. Thirty years is fair."

Repka's sister, who declined to give her name, afterwards, said she felt God's presence in and out of the courtroom.

"It all comes down to the people who helped us get through this," she said. "We can't lean on our own understanding."

She said she was thankful for the justice system, but there were still people out there hurting. The woman was escorted out of the courthouse before she was able to address the jury, but had several thoughts written down.

"A good man once told me that good men don't stand still and that man knows who he is," she said. "And justice prevails from what I've seen here with the jurors and the witnesses, law enforcement and the investigations unit and family sticking together."

O'Connor was also pleased with the jury's decision.

"By the grace of God and a superb job by Tony Daniels, our investigator, justice was served," O'Connor said. "Our justice system prevailed today."

After the victim's family drove away, Zuniga was led away from the building in handcuffs, surrounded by several deputies and a D.A. investigator.

"I didn't do it," he said. "They got the wrong guy."

Members of the jury declined to comment as they headed home, keeping their heads low.

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