Tuesday, February 8, 2011

McAllen, TX: 50-year sentence for man who pulled knife from gift box, killed wife

BY RUMMANA HUSSAIN AND TINA SFONDELES
A man who was arrested for his wife’s murder after he was featured on “America’s Most Wanted” was sentenced to 50 years in prison Tuesday for the 1998 slaying.

Dagoberto Gamez, 45, was captured in Texas nearly ten years later for the murder of his estranged wife, Maria. The couple had been separated at the time, Cook County prosecutors said.

On the morning of May 29, 1998, Gamez went to his wife’s aunt’s house in the 6100 block of South Kostner with a gift box, saying he had a gift for his wife, prosecutors said.

Maria Gamez showed up at the house to drop off her son, then left without speaking to Gamez. But Gamez allegedly followed her to her car and “started arguing with her,” Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Hogan said at the time of Gamez’s capture.

“The defendant took a knife from the gift box that he had and began to stab the victim as she was seated in her car,” Hogan said.

Gamez fled to Mexico, where he lived for about 10 years, prosecutors said. In 2007, FBI agents and local police arrested Gamez in McAllen, Texas.

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