Efrain Sanchez-DiazWashington County Sheriff’s Office
A former fugitive who was on the run for more than a decade was sentenced to life in prison last week for killing his ex-girlfriend outside a Tigard Burger King in 1999.
A Washington County jury found Efrain Sanchez-Diaz guilty of murder for stabbing 21-year-old Maria Garcia Leonardo in the heart on Feb. 12, 1999.
Sanchez-Diaz, now 47, fled the Burger King before police arrived. He was indicted in the killing six months after, but couldn’t be found.
Police determined that he fled the U.S. to his native country, Mexico. A Tigard store clerk told investigators that Sanchez-Diaz bought a suitcase days before the stabbing saying he was going back to the country, federal court records said.
A warrant was issued in Mexico his arrest in 2013, Tigard police said. He was found two years later in Acapulco. Sanchez-Diaz, who also goes by Luis Hernandez-Diaz, was extradited to the U.S. in March 2016.
The couple had a history of domestic violence before the killing, court documents said. Garcia Leonardo reported her boyfriend attacked her in Portland a month before she died. She said he threatened to kill her if she contacted police.
Sanchez-Diaz was arrested in connection with that case and released from jail before trial. A warrant was issued for his arrest when he didn’t show up for a January 1999 court hearing in the case, court records show.
Soon after, he stabbed Garcia Leonardo in the parking lot of the Burger King where she worked, court documents said.
She died at OHSU Hospital four days after.
Witnesses told police Sanchez-Diaz arrived at the fast-food restaurant in the morning just before his ex-girlfriend started her shift, according to court documents. He asked her if she would go outside with him.
She never returned. Her coworkers found her slumped over and unresponsive, court documents said.
Witness testimony and evidence linked Sanchez-Diaz to the killing, prosecutors said. Investigators found his fingerprints on a soda cup at the scene, as well as his DNA and Garcia Leonard’s blood on a sweatshirt.
— Everton Bailey Jr.
ebailey@oregonian.com
503-221-8343; @EvertonBailey
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