Houston Area Man Gets 15 For 1979 Fatal Stabbing
A 60-year-old Houston-area man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for the 1979 stabbing death of another man.
The Harris County Sheriff's Office says Martin Gutierrez was convicted Wednesday of killing 23-year-old Santiago Godinez.
Godinez's body was found in July 1979 in northwest Harris County. The sheriff's office says Godinez had been stabbed 13 times and was found lying in the fetal position in a rice field.
The murder remained unsolved for more than 30 years, but the murder investigation was reopened in January 2010. Investigators identified Gutierrez as a suspect that October and said he confessed.
Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia formed a special unit to investigate cold cases in 2009. Since then, the team has solved 12 cases involving 14 murder victims.
