Man gets life sentence for killing, burning college student

SAN ANTONIO — A 21-year-old man prosecutors say was in the United States illegally has been sentenced to life imprisonment for killing a San Antonio college student and burning his body.

A state district judge in San Antonio sentenced Ernesto Esquivel Garcia on Friday for the June 2018 death of 20-year-old Northwest Vista College student Jared Vargas.

Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales says Garcia won't be eligible for parole for 30 years. Gonzales says Garcia will be deported once he's released from prison.

Prosecutors say Garcia and Vargas were former co-workers when Garcia invited Vargas to his apartment with the intention of robbing him. They say Garcia strangled and stabbed Vargas and left him bleeding in a closet for two days before he died. He then burned the body.