Inset left: Tomas Aguilar (Webb County Sheriff's Office). Inset right: Oscar Bedarte (Joe Jackson North Funeral Chapels & Cremation Services). Background: The 2200 block of Iturbide Street in Laredo, Texas (Google Maps).
A man in Texas has learned his fate for stabbing his ex-girlfriend's stepfather to death while the man slept — and then running away and calling 911.
Tomas Aguilar has been sentenced to 33 years in prison for the murder of 42-year-old Oscar Bedarte, Webb County court records show. He pleaded guilty last week.
The now-convicted defendant was just 18 when he entered a home on the 2200 block of Iturbide Street in Laredo on March 30, 2022. Entering through an unlocked door, Aguilar said he found a knife in the kitchen sink and stabbed Bedarte with it as the man slept, according to an affidavit reviewed by the Laredo Morning Times.
At some point, the victim woke up as he was being attacked, and Aguilar stabbed him again, per the court document. Aguilar then ran away and called the police.
Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.
Officers arrived at the home sometime after 1:30 a.m. that day, reportedly finding Bedarte lying in a pool of blood. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Although Aguilar called 911, his initial telling of events was not an admission of guilt. Rather, he detailed a story that pointed to him acting in self-defense.
He said he went to an area park and met two men who invited him to a home, where another man was. Aguilar reportedly claimed that sometime after getting there, the man attacked him, trying to stab him in the chest before he managed to take control of the knife and stab the man multiple times.
Aguilar had cuts on his cheek and fingers as he delivered this account, authorities said.
Investigators were reportedly dubious about his story, telling Aguilar that the evidence found at the scene — such as a high concentration of blood found in the bedroom — did not track with the version of events he had just told. Aguilar's story then changed, according to the affidavit, with him admitting "he knew the victim and stabbed him multiple times as he slept."
He also reportedly explained his motive, saying he attacked Bedarte because he had "so much rage" over something Bedarte had done to his stepdaughter — Aguilar's ex-girlfriend. He said he had wanted to kill the man for months but "did not have the guts" to do it before, the Laredo Morning Times reported.
It remains unclear what Aguilar believed Bedarte had done to his stepdaughter. Aguilar was arrested the day of the murder.
Bedarte's obituary states that he left behind five children when he died. He was remembered as a man who "loved music, singing, dancing, and making people laugh."
Aguilar will spend the next 33 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, records show.
