A Lubbock man will spend the rest of his life in prison after pleading guilty to Capital Murder, Thursday.
“We set out this process with a desire, so that he never walks out of prison again and that’s what we accomplished today,” Lubbock County District Attorney, Matt Powell, said.
Humberto Salinas, Jr. was handed the life sentence, without the chance for parole, after a plea agreement was reached.
“I really struggled. As you guys know, ultimately it’s my decision as what we do as far as punishment wise, if we seek a death penalty on these deals and it’s been a long process to get here.”
In 2011, Salinas was charged with the murder of 15-year-old Elizabeth Ennen.
“He’s a coward, he’s been a coward since day one,” Elizabeth’s mother, Virginia Ennen said.
Court documents show the Monterey High School student was babysitting for Salinas’ children at the Carriage House Motel the night she was killed.
Salinas told police he’d dropped Elizabeth off at her home after she was done watching his kids.
He went even further to try and mislead detectives by telling them his son may have run off with the missing 15-year-old.
“How sick was that for him to sit there and tell me we’re going to find her, when he knew very well what he had already done to her,” Virginia said. “She can rest in peace and we can learn to survive, not forget, but survive.”
