SAN ANTONIO – A 46-year-old San Antonio man who raped and murdered a 7-year-old girl in 1999 was executed for his crime Wednesday night.
Guadalupe Esparza was executed by lethal injection in Huntsville. According to media witnesses he was pronounced dead at 6:21 p.m.
"He can never hurt anybody no more," said Roland Sanchez a cousin of the victim. "He's gone. He's with the devil now."
After 12 long years of waiting, the family of Alyssa Vasquez said they felt justice had finally been served. Several family members, including Alyssa's mother, Diana Berlanga traveled to Huntsville to witness Esparza's death sentence being carried out. Those who couldn't make the trip gathered at the crime scene in San Antonio where Alyssa's body was found in the 2400 block of Pinn Road.
Roland Sanchez was 15 when he learned of his young cousin's brutal murder. It was June 1999 when Esparza snuck into Alyssa's apartment as she slept and kidnapped her .
Her mom was out with friends for the night and a baby-sitter left the girl and her two brothers alone in the apartment while she visited a friend.
When the baby-sitter returned Alyssa was missing.
Vasquez was found strangled, beaten, raped and sodomized. Esparza dumped her body behind a meat market about 100 feet away from the apartment where he kidnapped her.
As the family held a candle light vigil there Wednesday evening they got the call that Esparza had been executed.
"It was about time," Sanchez said. "We'll always love Alyssa, she's an angel."
Danny Mujica, an uncle, was relieved the sentence had finally been carried out.
"We feel it should have taken place sooner, but I guess better late than never," Mujica said.
Even though DNA evidence tied Esparza to the crime he never admitted killing Alyssa Vasquez. Family members were hopeful he might finally apologize for what he did.
According to media witnesses, when asked for his final thoughts, Esparza asked the family for their forgiveness and said he hoped they find peace in their hearts.
Esparza was the 13th and final Texas prisoner to be executed this year.