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Gualberto Lebron was also sentenced to 32 years in prison for additional crimes related to the incident, Acting Essex Prosecutor Theodore Stephens announced Tuesday, May 2. His brother, Gilberto, was sentenced to eight years in prison for assisting Gualberto in disposing of her remains, Stephens said.
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In May 2018, Lebron strangled and sexually assaulted Julia Vega, Stephens said. Vega, 30, escaped but Lebron chased her and continued to assault her, later fleeing the scene before police arrived, Stephens said. Lebron continued to make threats against Vega and four days later, while she was home for lunch, Lebron murdered her, Stephens said. He cleaned the apartment, carried her body out in a rolled-up rug and loaded it into Vega’s minivan, Stephens said.
While Vega was reporting missing, Lebron kept her body concealed as he scouted locations to hide her body, Stephens said. He enlisted the help of his brother to destroy her remains, and they eventually stored her body inside heavy-duty trash bags filled with chemicals and sealed with duct tape, Stephens said.
Her remains were eventually found three weeks later in an abandoned home in Irvington, Stephens said. Vega was wearing a rubber bracelet from the Essex County Domestic Violence Response Team on her arm, Stephens said.
Lebron was convicted following a four-week trial.
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