Man Gets Life in Prison for Suffocating Young Mom in 1990

Jessenia Cantu left for school one day nearly 29 years ago and never saw her mother alive again.

Burglars used cords to bind Minerva Cantu’s wrists and ankles and covered her face with a towel and duct tape, until the mom of two suffocated on her living room floor.

The 26-year-old Lake Worth woman’s murder went unresolved until Friday, when a Palm Beach County jury convicted Jefer Negron, of North Carolina, of first-degree murder. The case leaned heavily on DNA evidence.

“It was not easy for us to grow up without our mother,” Jessenia Cantu told Circuit Judge John Kastrenakes. “I’m very happy that justice is served.”

The judge sentenced Negron, 52, to life in prison, with the possibility of parole after 25 years.

Jurors deliberated for nearly six hours over two days before finding Negron guilty as charged.

After the verdict, Negron stood by his earlier denial that he had anything to do with the crime.

“I was not the one to do that and I still maintained my innocence,” he told the judge.

Then he turned to the victim’s loved ones to “express my deep regret for what happened to the woman and her family.”

“I wouldn’t want my family to go through that,” said Negron, who was living about 30 miles south of Raleigh when he was arrested.

Assistant State Attorney Reid Scott said Negron was among the burglars who entered the home at 421 North F St., on Nov. 27, 1990.

Left unharmed was Fermin Cantu Jr., her 18-month-old son who was sitting in his crib in the next room.

On Friday, he sat with his older sister, as the jury’s decision was read in court.

Later, Cantu said he would like to see prosecutors go after two other suspected accomplices.

“We’ll have to settle for one of the three for now,” he said.

Negron was arrested in 2016, after cold case detectives took a fresh look at crime-scene evidence.

The prosecutor argued Negron’s DNA was a solid match to scrapings from underneath Cantu’s fingernails and an orange shirt Minerva Cantu had been wearing.

As Negron’s parents cried in the courtroom, defense attorney Seth LaVay said Negron would appeal the conviction and sentence.

After the Negron left the courtroom in handcuffs, LaVay told reporters that he was disappointed but noted that the jury seemed to be thorough in its review of the evidence.

LaVay had called in an expert to testify that the prosecution’s DNA evidence was based on faulty math.

The defense attorney said part of Negron’s appeal would be based on a claim that the state’s main DNA expert misrepresented his qualifications to bolster his credentials before the jury.

Judge Kastrenakes told the Cantu children he was sorry for their long ordeal, before adding, “The wheels of justice turn slowly, but they do turn.”