What happened to William "Jokes" Sotelo after Netflix's true crime documentary Why Did You Kill Me? The documentary film tells the true story of the 2006 murder of Crystal Theobald, a 24-year-old from Riverside, California. William Sotelo was one of multiple suspects involved in Theobald’s tragic death after the car she and her family were driving in was mistaken for that of an enemy of the local 5150 gang.
Why Did You Kill Me? documents how Theobald’s mother Belinda Lane and cousin Jaime McIntyre used MySpace to catfish Sotelo and other 5150 members in search of Crystal's killer. Eventually, using the fake account, Lane was able to reveal personal facts about Sotelo that implicated him in the crime. Specifically, he drove his white Ford Expedition which carried the gang members responsible for the shooting, while Julio "Lil Huero" Heredia was identified as the shooter. Sotelo was, at one point, brought in for questioning, but was let go due to lack of evidence. Lane later confronted Sotelo through the social networking site about his actions. Sotelo then logged out of MySpace, went off-grid and was not heard or seen from again for over a decade.
Ten years after the 2006 murder, Sotelo was tried and convicted on one count of voluntary manslaughter, for which he is currently serving a sentence of 22 years. Why Did You Kill Me? explains that following Lane's MySpace confrontation, Sotelo fled to Mexico. While there, he worked as a chili farmer and started a family. Sotelo remained the only suspect still at large for the killing of Crystal Theobald after all other 5150 persons involved in the case had been tried and convicted. In 2016, Lane received a tip about Sotelo's whereabouts on Facebook, which she forwarded to the police. The tip proved correct and allowed authorities to locate Sotelo, who was living with a wife and three children.
Sotelo's case was tried in 2020, where he was initially facing first-degree murder charges. At the trial, Lane spoke directly to Sotelo where she allegedly called him "a coward" and "a punk" and she hoped other gang members in prison would "snuff his life out." Lane then moved to verbally address Sotelo’s family, shaming them for helping him escape to Mexico before the judge ordered her to stop and to only address Sotelo. Afterward, when questioned about the sentencing, Belinda Lane responded she was still processing and that "He wasn't even sorry."
Following the events depicted in Why Did You Kill Me? Sotelo took a plea deal, where he pled guilty to one count of voluntary manslaughter. His 22-year sentence includes the four years he had been held up to and during his trial, meaning Sotelo will face eighteen additional years in prison before being released. He is currently incarcerated at Centinela State Prison in Imperial County, California.
https://ift.tt/32Gm8pS
April 23, 2021 at 05:26AM
