“sheriff doesn’t see a connection between the killing and [the murderer’s] immigration status”

In late December 2016, a woman was brutally murdered in Washington State, shot to death with a note from the murderer attached to her body with a knife.

Her name was Jill Sundberg.

Jill was born on Aug 4, 1985 in Quincy, WA to Greg and Janet (Zimbelman) Sundberg.Jill lived her entire life in Quincy, graduating from Quincy High School in 2004. After graduation, in addition to raising her family, she worked various jobs in Home Health Care and food services.During her younger years she enjoyed snowboarding, camping and spending time on the river with her family and friends. Family was very important to Jill.She adored her niece and nephews but her greatest joy in life was her four boys.Jill was kind hearted, generous and very outgoing. Jill was loved by many and will be missed.Jill is survived by her sons, Zander, Drason, Kaleb and Brayden, mother Janet Sundberg, brother Riley Sundberg, sister Robbi (Julian) Rubio, grandparents Dick and Shirley Zimbelman, niece Jada and nephews Julian and Rhogan.

KXLY reports, Grant County Sheriff details savage murder:

Grant County Sheriff’s detectives called it one of the most savage murders they’ve ever investigated.Jill Sundberg, the mother of four children, kidnapped by five men who were living here in the United States illegally.Sundberg’s body was found off the Old Vantage Highway in December. She and the suspects all lived at the Shady Tree trailer park near George.The killer did little to cover his tracks, even leaving behind a message for detectives at the crime scene….Several of the men all told the same story: They were partying with the victim at the RV park, when Gustavo Tapia Rodriguez lost his temper with Sundberg, forced her into an SUV and kidnapped her.“Five individuals, plus Jill, all in one vehicle drove her specifically down the Old Vantage Highway, and I’ll call it like I see it, they executed her,” said Jones.The group of men then went and bought beer at a convenience store, but not before leaving behind something behind at the murder scene that would shock even seasoned detectives.“They they added one more salt to the wound, so to speak, and they put a note on her back and put a knife in her back,” said Jones. “I won’t say what the note said, but it sounds like it was a disrespectful thing and just absolutely gruesome.”

The Spokesman-Review provides details as to the murderer’s illegal immigration history:

Gustavo Tapia Rodriguez, 39, is one of five undocumented immigrants from Mexico charged in the killing. He is the suspected triggerman, according to Grant County Sheriff Tom Jones.Rodriguez is also known as Pablo Zamora-Hernandez. He was living in George, Washington, and remains jailed on a million-dollar bond on charges of murder and kidnapping….Rodriquez, Varona, 25, and Villanueva, 25, all face a charge of first-degree murder. Two men accused of being material witnesses in the case are Salvador Espinoza Gomez, 24, and Fernando Marcos Gutierrez, 33.“All five are non-U.S. citizens,” Jones said.The sheriff said he did not know what Rodriguez, the suspected shooter, had for a job prior to his arrest. However, he was a convicted felon and was deported through El Paso, Texas, in 2007. He returned illegally to the United States.After the killing, authorities arrested Rodriguez on an unrelated charge. As the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service held him in Tacoma, detectives questioned the other suspects in the case.

K5 TV reported on the burden on the local system from crimes by illegal aliens:

While this type of crime is rare, [Sheriff Tom] Jones doesn’t have to look farther than the jail next door to realize a disturbing trend. Undocumented immigrants make up 10 percent of the inmate population, costing the county almost $1.7 million over the last three years.And that’s just to hold them. Jones said the total cost to the system is much more.“When we have our investigators investigating these crimes, the manpower it takes, the overtime, and the prosecutor’s office, all the resources it takes, it’s taxing,” he said.

The KXLY report above contains this police assessment as to immigration status (emphasis added):

While it’s true the defendant was an illegal alien at the time of the murder, the sheriff doesn’t see a connection between the killing and Tapia Rodriguez’s immigration status. However, if the defendant is convicted of this homicide, he won’t be deported again, he’ll remain here in the U.S. to serve what will be a very long prison sentence.

Sorry sheriff, you are wrong, dead wrong.

If the murderer were not illegally in the U.S., he would not be here at all. And if he weren’t here, Jill Sundberg would be alive.

Much like the Kate Steinle murder, the illegal status of the murderer has everything to do with the crime. Every single crime committed by an illegal alien is a crime that would not have happened if the person were not here illegally.

Tags: Criminal Law, Immigration

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