Kiany DeJesus was just 11 years old when her mother was killed by her ex-boyfriend in Greenbelt, Maryland.
In court Tuesday, the daughter watched him get sentenced to decades in prison for the 2014 killing — after she used social media to track him down in Mexico, where he had started a new family.
Emilia Ignacio was killed in April 2014 at the hands of Juan Miguel Roman-Balderas.
Her daughter delivered a tearful victim impact statement describing all that she lost.
“I knew that if I didn’t get it out, I would probably regret it, so I’m glad that I did this and I’m glad that he got to hear it from my words too. It makes me really happy to finally get to close all of this,” she told News4.
Prosecutors say Roman-Balderas took Ignacio to Red Lobster for dinner, stabbed her 27 times and took off to Mexico using a one-way ticket he bought before the killing. Her body was found in her car.
Roman-Balderas had been hiding out in Mexico for over a decade. He started a new family, leaving behind the 1-year-old son he and Ignacio shared.
DeJesus used social media to find him. She credits the Instagram account Crime Time Tea Time with giving the case the attention it needed, leading to Roman-Balderas’ arrest.
“Without her, we wouldn’t have been able to get the ball rolling at all. We tried. We pushed a lot, and she was the only person to respond to us, and as soon as we started, you know, connecting with her, everything just one by one by one started falling into order,” she said.
Roman-Balderas was abusive to DeJesus and her mom, the daughter said. She told the judge he burned her hand on the stove when she took a few quarters as a child and even abused her dog. DeJesus hadn’t seen him since she was a child.
“It’s kind of like he’s a ghost, almost. Like he’s not even real,” she said.
Roman-Balderas pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in February.
Roman-Balderas’ attorney argued he’s a changed man, took responsibility for the crime and had no other record, asking for just 20 years. Roman-Balderas himself made no statement at the sentencing hearing in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.
The judge sentenced Roman-Balderas to the maximum allowed under a plea agreement, saying in part that he tortured Ignacio.
DeJesus said she’s considering becoming a lawyer or detective now that her mother’s killer has been brought to justice.
“The judge herself telling me that she was really proud of me — it made me really happy. It made me feel like all of the work that I did was, you know, for something good to finally come out of it,” she said.
