SAN ANTONIO — The family of Sebastian Carpio received further closure Monday, four years after the body of the San Antonio teenager was found stuffed in the trunk of a stolen car.
Carpio was shot dead, investigators said, and the car a charred ruin when it was found in September 2020 in a remote Bexar County pasture. He was 17 years old at the time.
Now a second person is heading to prison in connection with Carpio's murder. Felipe Perez was arrested last August, having been accused of trying to get rid of a shotgun and cell phone believed to have been connected to the case.
Perez pleaded guilty and on Monday was sentenced to eight years in prison out of a possible maximum of 10. Audible tears accompanied 437th District Court Judge Joel Perez's reading of the sentence.
"You were the only one of adult age," Ana Maria Carpio, Sebastian's mother, told Perez after the sentence was read. "Your decision in choosing friendship and loyalty to the convicted offender were much greater to doing what was morally and ethically correct. It was a matter of time for this day to come and hold you accountable for your actions."
Ana Maria Carpio has remained steadfast in her pursuit of justice after her son's killing. She fought against a premature release for his convicted killer, Edgar De La Cruz, and campaigned for Perez to receive the maximum possible sentence.
"He chose to be immoral," she said before the sentence was determined. "I don't believe that he is remorseful."
De La Cruz is serving a 25-year sentence in an adult prison. He was 18 at the time of Carpio's death, and turned himself in shortly after the teen's body was found. He would go on to be convicted of murder and aggravated robbery.
While on the stand Monday, Ana Maria Carpio lamented how she wasn't able to provide Sebastian with a traditional funeral.
"It was a closed-casket (ceremony)," she said. "I was not able to hold him. I was not able to kiss him goodbye. I was not able to do a lot of things that traditional funerals are able to give."
Earlier in the afternoon, before the judge read the sentence, Perez said he regretted his actions.
Carpio spoke to KENS 5 following the sentencing where she mentioned a plea deal De La Cruz accepted with the District Attorney. She said in the deal, he gave investigators multiple names of people involved in the killing. She said as a result more people should be held accountable for her son's killing.
“If the DA’s office gave an offender a plea bargain deal, then they should utilize those resources," Carpio said.
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