{"id":402060,"date":"2025-11-24T20:37:19","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T20:37:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/402060\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T20:37:19","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T20:37:19","slug":"man-sentenced-for-phoenix-teens-04-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/402060\/","title":{"rendered":"Man sentenced for Phoenix teen&#8217;s &#8217;04 death"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>PHOENIX \u2013 A man who was extradited from Mexico to stand trial in the cold case murder of a Phoenix teenager was sentenced to 20 years in prison last week, authorities announced.<\/p>\n<p>Sergio Reyes, 39, learned his fate more than 21 years after 15-year-old Elena Lasswell was beaten and strangled to death at her home <a href=\"https:\/\/maps.app.goo.gl\/zpgDUD8sagRGQ7bH7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">near 23rd Avenue and Thomas Road<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/ktar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sergio-reyes-mugshot.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Sergio Reyes was 17 when he killed a Phoenix teen in 2004. (MCSO photo)\" aria-label=\"Sergio Reyes was 17 when he killed a Phoenix teen in 2004. (MCSO photo)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sergio-reyes-mugshot-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Sergio Reyes was 17 when he killed a Phoenix teen in 2004. (MCSO photo)\"\/>\t\t<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/ktar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Elena-Lasswell.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Elena Lasswell was killed in case that took over 20 years to complete. (Photo via Phoenix Police Department)\" aria-label=\"Elena Lasswell was killed in case that took over 20 years to complete. (Photo via Phoenix Police Department)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Elena-Lasswell-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Elena Lasswell was killed in case that took over 20 years to complete. (Photo via Phoenix Police Department)\"\/>\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Lasswell was seen alive for the last time going into her bedroom with a boy and shutting the door, according to the Maricopa County Attorney\u2019s Office (MCAO).<\/p>\n<p>She was found dead in her room the next day. The autopsy determined that her cause of death was strangulation and blunt force trauma to the head.<\/p>\n<p>How did police solve cold case from 2004?<\/p>\n<p>In 2013, the Phoenix Police Department cracked the cold case by using familial DNA evidence to link Reyes to the crime. A grand jury indicted him in 2014.<\/p>\n<p>The suspect was <a href=\"https:\/\/ktar.com\/arizona-news\/man-extradited-arrested-for-murder-of-15-year-old-girl-in-20-year-old-cold-case\/5579893\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">extradited to Arizona<\/a> in July 2024 after being arrested in Mexico, where he\u2019d been living.<\/p>\n<p>Reyes, who was 17 when Lasswell was killed, pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder in August of this year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis case highlights the tireless efforts of Phoenix Police detectives and MCAO prosecutors who never gave up in the pursuit of justice for Elena and her family,\u201d Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell <a href=\"https:\/\/maricopacountyattorney.org\/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=1259\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said in a press release<\/a>. \u201cThis defendant tried to run and hide, but in Maricopa County, the truth will catch up to you and so will law enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"twitter-follow-button\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kstonezone\" data-show-count=\"false\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Follow @kstonezone<\/a><\/p>\n<p>We want to hear from you.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;\">Have a story idea or tip? Pass it along to the KTAR News team <a href=\"https:\/\/ktar.com\/arizona-news\/cold-case-murder-sentencing\/5782111\/mailto:stories@ktar.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ktar.com\/newsletters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/KTAREmail-830x100-1.jpg\" style=\"margin: 0 auto;\" class=\"mobile-signup\"\/>\t&#13;<br \/>\n\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/KTAREmail-830x100-1.jpg\" style=\"margin: 0 auto;\" class=\"desktop-signup\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>                    <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX \u2013 A man who was extradited from Mexico to stand trial in the cold case murder of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":402061,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[7155,5229,5643,1587,316,1589,7154,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-402060","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-92-3-ktar","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-arizona","11":"tag-az","12":"tag-home","13":"tag-phoenix","14":"tag-phoenix-and-arizona-breaking-news-and-news-headlines-home","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115606602370442256","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}