Luis Morón Romero sentenced to life for beating his girlfriend to death with a hammer in 2018 (PHOTOS)

• Luis Morón Romero got bad news.
• He was convicted of murdering his girlfriend in 2018.
• It was a crime of passion.

Luis Morón Romero was sentenced to life in prison for beating his girlfriend, María Santiago Márquez, to death with a hammer in 2018. Kim Ogg, District Attorney in Harris County, announced the sentence in Houston, Texas.

The murder of María Santiago Márquez, 38, was motivated by the anger of her boyfriend Luis Morón Romero, 40, after she broke up with him specifically because of his violent nature. The terrible crime shook the Hispanic community of Houston.

Luis Morón Romero receives a life sentence for murdering his girlfriend

At the time of writing this story, Hispanic Luis Morón is still sleeping in the Harris County Jail awaiting transfer to the Texas Department of Public Safety (TDCJ), where he will spend the rest of his life.

A detailed reading of the case against Morón Romero reveals that he was a construction worker in the Houston metropolitan area, and that he met María Santiago Márquez through Facebook. She was also married to another man.

María Santiago Márquez begins dating her murderer

On the night of Sunday, November 21, 2018, María Santiago Márquez, mother of three children, went to her boyfriend Luis Morón Romero’s house. The two had met through Facebook when Morón Romero sent her a friend request and began to flirt with her.

Mrs. María Santiago Márquez began her romantic relationship with Luis Morón Romero, even after she discovered that he was still married to another woman. That fateful night she told Romero that it was time to end their relationship because she was no longer happy.

Romero picked up a hammer in a rage

María Santiago Márquez was about to leave when Luis Morón Romero tried to seduce her. She, determined, told him no because their relationship had ended. Romero revealed all the details later to the Houston Police Department (HPD).

When María Santiago Márquez didn’t respond to the seduction and confirmed that their relationship was over, anger blinded Luis Morón Romero. He took a hammer and delivered seven furious blows to her head, ruthlessly killing her.

The killer wrapped the body in a rug

Luis Morón Romero took an old rug from his house and wrapped it around the bleeding corpse of his girlfriend, María Santiago Márquez. He then carried the woman to her car. The security cameras of his apartment complex captured the entire thing.

He then wandered through various parts of the greater Houston, Texas, area until he abandoned the vehicle in a vacant lot off I-610. After dumping María Santiago Márquez’s body, he walked back to his house to clean up the blood.

Videos incriminated Luis Morón Romero

HPD’s Homicide Division took up the investigation after a trooper noticed the abandoned car and came over to investigate for a routine check. Inside he found the corpse of María Santiago Márquez.

When officers identified DNA in the rug belonging to someone else, they were able to link Luis Morón Romero, the woman’s boyfriend, to the case. In addition, the videos from the apartment complex revealed the moment when he carried out his girlfriend’s body.

Another homicide linked to Luis Morón Romero

By identifying the DNA of Luis Morón Romero, HPD detectives discovered that these samples were linked to the 2017 murder of another person in that city southeast of the Houston metropolitan area.

Luis Morón Romero was then charged with the stabbing murder of Guillermo González, 56, who was found dead in an abandoned vehicle at a car wash a few blocks from the killer’s home. Romero received another life sentence for that crime.

“An abusive relationship… can turn into murder”

Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a statement that Luis Morón Romero’s crime shows that «an abusive relationship can easily turn into murder and that’s why we take all domestic violence accusations seriously.»

Prosecutor Kim Ogg said that «whatever you call it, domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, partner abuse or intimate partner violence, it’s all serious and can be deadly.» With the murderer’s sentence, the tragedy was closed for María Santiago Márquez, her husband and her children.