Article snippet: A jury convicted 20-year-old Ernesto Esquivel-Garcia, an illegal alien from Mexico, of brutally murdering Vargas in June 2018 and then leaving his body in an apartment complex before setting it on fire. Vargas, a cybersecurity student at the University of Texas at San Antonio, was found murdered by Esquivel-Garcia on June 18, 2018, when firefighters arrived at the scene of an apartment set ablaze. Prosecutors said the illegal alien had brutally strangled and stabbed Vargas to death before setting his body on fire in the apartment complex. The murder occurred after Esquivel-Garcia had been twice released from police and federal custody back into the U.S. and was only given a voluntary deportation order despite having a criminal record. In March 2017, the illegal alien was arrested for drunk driving and was eventually turned over to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. Though he was placed into deportation proceedings, an immigration judge allowed him to post bond, and he was released back into the interior of the country. In May 2018, a month before Vargas was murdered, Esquivel-Garcia was again put into ICE custody and local police custody but was able to post bond and be released back into the U.S. with only the promise that he would self-deport. Vargas’s mother, Lori, posted on the Facebook page dedicated to her son’s memory, calling the murder and the trial a “horrific experience” that has permanently separated her from her son. “I would like ... Link to the full article to read more