The Maricopa County Attorney's Office announced Monday that a jury has found a 28-year-old man guilty of murdering his former girlfriend in Chandler in 2007.
Ivan Hernandez-Olvera faces a sentence of life in prison. He was found guilty by a Maricopa County Jury on Thursday.
Shortly after 10 p.m. on November 17, 2007, Chandler police found the body of a 21-year-old woman lying on the street near Price Road and Warner Avenue.
A bicyclist told police he saw a man standing on the driver's side of a vehicle arguing with the victim, who was standing on the passenger side of the vehicle, according to a Maricopa County Attorney's Office press release.
When the woman went around the back of the vehicle and approached the man, he pulled out a pistol and fired several shots before he got back into the vehicle and fled the scene, according to the witness.
The woman was left on the road until medics arrived and transported her to a Scottsdale hospital where she was pronounced dead, according to the press release.
The Maricopa County Attorney's Office said Hernandez-Olvera was believed to have been trying to flee the country to Mexico when he was captured by police and border patrol agents in Nogales, Arizona the day after the murder.
Law enforcement officials had been monitoring his car, which was spotted near the border. When the suspect returned to his vehicle, officers attempted to arrest him. He attempted to run, but was quickly captured and taken into custody, according to the press release.
The press release also stated the suspect was an undocumented immigrant living in Tempe.
Officers found a 9 mm handgun in the vehicle.
"This young woman had her life stolen by a violent act," said County Attorney Andrew Thomas. "My thoughts for her family are that they will eventually be able to find some peace beyond this tragedy."
Hernandez-Olvera will be sentenced April 15. He was indicted on November 28, 2007 on one count of first degree murder and a domestic violence offense.
