A Covina man who worked for U.S. Customs and Border Protection is expected to plead guilty Friday to a federal charge alleging he kidnapped his wife in 2016 in an incident that resulted in her death.
Eddy Reyes, 38, who lived with his wife in Santa Ana when she was last seen, has agreed to enter his plea in downtown Los Angeles to a count of kidnapping resulting in death.
The charge carries potential sentences of the death penalty or life in federal prison without parole. However, the government has agreed not to seek a sentence greater than 30 years in exchange for Reyes’ guilty plea. If prior to sentencing, Reyes provides information leading to the recovery of the remains of Claudia Sanchez Reyes — so that they can be returned to her parents in El Salvador — federal prosecutors will lower their recommendation to 25 years, according to his plea agreement.
Reyes admitted in the document that he kidnapped his 21-year-old wife on May 6, 2016 after suspecting she was having an affair with another man.
Claudia Reyes was last seen leaving work that night. After Reyes filed a missing person report four days later, the Santa Ana Police Department conducted an investigation that revealed co-workers heard the woman fighting with her husband the night she disappeared, before he picked her up in a rented SUV, according to an affidavit, which notes detectives later found a drop of Claudia Reyes’ blood in the vehicle, and a cadaver dog indicated that a body had been in the Hyundai SUV.
The remains of Claudia Reyes have never been found.
Court papers document a history of domestic abuse by Reyes against his wife, including several threats to kill her, as well as temporary restraining orders Claudia Reyes obtained against her husband in 2014 and 2016.
According to his plea agreement, Reyes said he met with his half-brother, identified by the initials P.O., at a McDonald’s restaurant in Los Angeles one month before the kidnapping to plan the killing. Reyes had been estranged from his half-brother but contacted him because P.O. had previously been a gang member and gravedigger in El Salvador, Reyes stated.
At P.O.’s suggestion, Reyes rented an SUV to use to kidnap and kill the woman. The defendant told his wife the Hyundai Santa Fe was a gift for her.
On May 6, 2016, Reyes called Claudia and told her he wanted to take her out to dinner and he would pick her up after work. When Reyes arrived at her workplace, P.O. was hiding under a blanket in the back of the SUV, Reyes said in his plea agreement.
After she was picked up, the defendant drove to his mother’s house in Orange and pulled into the garage. Once the garage door closed, P.O. grabbed the woman, who was in the front passenger seat, pulling her with such force that the passenger seat collapsed towards the back seat.
After punching the woman, P.O. took a seat belt, wrapped it around her neck, and strangled her to death, Reyes stated in the plea agreement filed last week in Los Angeles federal court.
Reyes said he then helped his half-brother push the body into the back seat and eventually into the cargo area of the Hyundai.
The next day, Reyes used Claudia’s cell phone to pose as her and text her workplace saying she would not be in that day. P.O., posing as the woman, then sent a text message to a paralegal who worked for Claudia’s divorce lawyer stating that the attorney was no longer needed, Reyes said.
P.O., again posing as the woman, sent a text to Claudia’s mother in El Salvador saying she was moving to New York with a new man and was leaving her son with her husband, according to the plea agreement.
On May 19, 2016, Reyes drove to a parking lot at Los Angeles International Airport and threw in a trash can a backpack containing a blanket and rags P.O. used to wipe down the seat belts and interior of the Hyundai SUV, Reyes stated.
It was not immediately clear if P.O. had been charged in the case.