Left inset: Jonathan Romero. Right inset: David Manriquez. Background: Police at the Nevada home where Jonathan Romero killed David Manriquez in an execution-style shooting (KLAS/YouTube).
A Nevada man has admitted to barging into his ex-girlfriend's house, where he caught her new boyfriend "hiding in the closet" of her bedroom and proceeded to execute him with a gunshot to the head.
Jonathan Romero, 35, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder last week for the shooting death of David Manriquez, 18, in July 2008, according to local CBS affiliate KLAS. A Clark County grand jury indicted him last June after hearing testimony from his ex-girlfriend, who said he showed up to her Las Vegas home months after they stopped dating, pushed the door in, and then ran upstairs to confront her new boyfriend.
"He looks into the room on the left and then he goes into the master bedroom and David was hiding … hiding in the closet," the woman reportedly testified. "[Manriquez] tries to stop him and then [Romero] shot him in the back of his head."
Police told the grand jury that Romero shot Manriquez several times before fleeing from the home and running down the street.
"There was a blood trail that led from inside the house out the front door and down, I want to say, several blocks," a detective testified, according to KLAS.
Romero managed to evade police for more than 15 years before being captured in Mexico in May 2025. He initially pleaded not guilty to charges of murder with a deadly weapon, attempted murder with a deadly weapon, and burglary while in possession of a deadly weapon before accepting a plea deal last week for first-degree murder.
"We just want him to pay what he did to my son," said Manriquez's father, Jaime Manriquez, in an interview with KLAS last year.
"He's a coward," added Manriquez's sister, Ruby Manriquez. "We kind of were not ever expecting him to get caught. It was a shock. We were expecting you know, God to handle it, but he'll get his justice here and hopefully it's enough."
Romero is scheduled to be sentenced on March 26. He's facing between 20 and 50 years in prison, with credit for time served, as part of his plea agreement.