A Laredo man has been sentenced to 33 years in state prison for the fatal stabbing of his ex-girlfriend’s stepfather, ending a homicide case that stretched over three years. Tomas Alejandro Aguilar, 22, pleaded guilty on Thursday in the 341st District Court before Judge Rebecca Palomo, according to court records.
The plea deal brings closure to a case that began in March 2022 with a violent killing in Laredo’s El Tonto neighborhood. Police said the incident occurred around 1:30 a.m. on March 30, 2022, near the intersection of Hidalgo Street and Santa Isabel Avenue.
Aguilar, then 18, called 911, claiming that an unknown man had tried to stab him. Officers found him with cuts on his cheek and fingers, and he was taken to a hospital in stable condition. Following a blood trail, investigators discovered the body of 42-year-old Oscar Oswaldo Bedarte inside a home on the 2200 block of Iturbide Street.
Bedarte was found lying in a pool of blood inside a bedroom, and paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene. According to police, Aguilar initially told detectives he did not know Bedarte and had acted in self-defense after being attacked. However, his story began to unravel when physical evidence contradicted his account, according to the Laredo Morning Times.
“When confronted with these conflicting findings, Aguilar changed his account of the events and admitted he knew the victim and stabbed him multiple times as he slept,” police said in a statement. An arrest affidavit detailed Aguilar’s shifting story. After receiving medical treatment, he told investigators that he had entered the home through an unlocked door, taken a knife from the kitchen sink, and attacked Bedarte while he was asleep.
When Bedarte woke up and fought back, Aguilar said he stabbed him again before fleeing and later calling the police. Detectives recovered the knife when Aguilar was taken into custody. He reportedly confessed to killing his ex-girlfriend’s stepfather out of anger, saying he had “so much rage” over what Bedarte had done to her and had wanted to kill him since December but “did not have the guts” to do it earlier.
Authorities have not released additional details about the alleged motive. Bedarte, who worked as a security guard, was remembered by family as a “hardcore Dallas Cowboys fan” who loved music, singing, dancing, and making people laugh.
Aguilar was arrested the day of the killing and released on pretrial bond as the case moved slowly through court due to multiple continuances and a mental-competency evaluation. On October 16, Judge Palomo accepted the plea agreement and imposed the 33-year prison sentence. Aguilar remains in the Webb County Jail awaiting transfer to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.