Missouri College Student Murdered by Police Officer After He Threatened to Reveal Their Affair: Authorities
A police officer killed a student from Kentucky after he threatened to reveal their affair, authorities shared. Jesse Valencia, 23, was found dead lying in the grass between two houses just off the Columbia, Missouri campus of the University of Missouri on June 5, 2004, Oxygen reported.
Detectives were called to the scene and found that the student had been fatally stabbed, Oxygen reported. He had a gaping wound on his neck, where the perpetrator had attacked. The body was covered with bruises on his back, chest and jaw.
Valencia's house was just a block away. Police found that the door of the residence was unlocked, Oxygen reported. Investigators believed that the attacker chased Valencia on foot and murdered him by slashing his throat. Witnesses reported to police that they had seen a young man walking barefoot a block or two away from the crime scene.
Valencia's neighbor revealed that he had heard two men arguing, around 3.30 a.m., on the night of the murder, The U.S. Sun reported.
Investigators focussed on the victim's love life to get a breakthrough in the case, Oxygen reported. Just a few days before his murder, Valencia had hooked up with a man named Ed. Ed admitted to having relations with the victim but denied having any part in the murder.
Zev, the 19-year-old son of a rabbi, was also looked into by investigators, Oxygen reported. Valencia's friends shared with the investigators that the victim often referred to Zev as his "boy toy." According to records, Zev had tried to call Valencia multiple times, the night he died. Zev denied any involvement and claimed that he was just friends with Valencia.
Valencia's mother told investigators that the victim had recently been romantically involved with a Columbia police officer, Oxygen reported. Valencia met with the officer when the latter arrested him at a party. He talked back to the law enforcement official, and in return got a ticket. A few hours later, the officer was at his door requesting him to pursue a clandestine relationship.
Steven Rios, a Columbia police officer, came forward on his own to Police Detective John Short as the person who arrested Valencia and gave him a ticket, Oxygen reported. He denied having any relations with the victim.
A witness confirmed that Rios and Valencia were involved in a romantic relationship. On being confronted by the testimony, Rios confessed to the affair.
Rios was married to his college sweetheart, Libby Sullivan, and the couple had welcomed a baby boy together just four months earlier, Oxygen reported.
Rios had volunteered to guard Valencia’s body and the crime scene after the murder. He told investigators that on the night of the murder, he worked his usual shift, had a beer with other officers on the roof of the police station after his shift, and then headed home around 5 a.m., Oxygen reported.
In the following days, Rios attempted to take his life twice, and both times had to be talked out of it by his close ones and authorities.
Rios' colleagues told police officers that he left the station earlier than he mentioned in his testimony, Oxygen reported. Rios' DNA was also found under the victim's fingernails. Valencia's friend Steve Rogers stated to the investigators that the victim wanted to reveal the affair to the police chief.
Rios was arrested by authorities and convicted of first-degree murder in 2005, Oxygen reported. He was sentenced to life without parole. In 2008, he was granted a retrial, after an appellate court ruled that jurors shouldn't have been able to hear some of the witness testimony that they considered hearsay. A second jury found him guilty of second-degree murder. He will be eligible for parole in 2049.
Rios continues to maintain that he is innocent, Oxygen reported.
Currently, Rios is in the South Dakota state prison, The U.S. Sun reported.