Brother-in-law pleads guilty to Edinburg teen's murder

EDINBURG — A 22-year-old man charged in the slaying of his teenage sister-in-law last year has pleaded guilty to murder, prosecutors said Monday.

Said Vargas told a judge he strangled the girl July 8 during an argument at the family's home in north Edinburg. Officers found the body of 18-year-old Yuliana Reyes a week later - stripped of her clothes, wrapped in a blanket and buried in a debris strewn canal bed located near the intersection of Monte Cristo and Seminary roads.

As part of a plea deal with prosecutors, Vargas agreed Thursday to accept a 50-year prison sentence for the crime. But much about Reyes death remains a mystery.

Vargas allegedly gave several statements to police in the hours after his young sister-in-law disappeared, prosecutors said. At first, he allegedly told investigators that she had left with an unknown man driving a Chevrolet Cavalier

Then as signs began to point toward his involvement, he changed his story. He told investigators that he strangled the girl accidentally while trying to stop her from running away from home, according to court documents filed in his case. He later led them to her body.

But Vargas could not explain why he had removed her clothing or how her bra had been ripped and pantyhose stuffed in her mouth.

A sexual assault kit performed after investigators discovered the body provided inconclusive results because of the decomposition that had occurred since her death, prosecutors said Monday.

Reyes had graduated from Edinburg North High School only months before her death and had planned to attend the University of Texas-Pan American that fall.

Vargas, a Mexican national, remains in the Hidalgo County jail pending his transfer to a state prison. His attorney, E.A. Villarreal Jr., did not return calls for comment Monday.

Jeremy Roebuck covers courts and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4437.