Fort Wayne man pleads guilty to murder

MUNCIE – A Fort Wayne man pleaded guilty Wednesday to the molestation, murder and rape of a 10-year-old girl in exchange for the prosecutor’s agreeing not to seek the death penalty.\nThe plea agreement calls for Simon Rios to serve consecutive 50-year sentences on rape and child molestation charges and life without parole in the murder of Alejandra Gutierrez, who lived in Rios’ neighborhood.\nDelaware Circuit Court Judge Marianne Vorhees will decide July 12 whether to accept the plea agreement. Delaware County Prosecutor Mark McKinney said he agreed to the plea because that is what Alejandra’s family wanted.\n“The family wanted the closure as soon as possible,” he said. “Every time something came up in the case we had to talk to them, or every time they thought of the trial they relived the horror all over again. They just wanted it done.”\nMcKinney said the decision was made easier because Rios could be sentenced to death if he is convicted of killing his wife and their three young daughters on Dec. 13, 2005. That was five days after Rios allegedly abducted Alejandra as she waited near her school bus stop, drove her to a gravel pit near Muncie – about 60 miles south of Fort Wayne – then sexually assaulted and killed her.\n“Not filing the death penalty was probably the hardest decision I’ve had to make in my 12 years as a prosecutor, because the case really cried out for the death penalty,” McKinney said. “Rape, molest and murder of a 10-year-old girl – that’s a death-penalty case.”\nAlejandra’s family did not attend Wednesday’s hearing.\nMichelle Kraus, Rios’ attorney, said she hoped the plea agreement would help resolve the case in Allen County, where Rios is accused of killing his family. That trial is scheduled to get under way in October.\nCourt records allege that Rios and his 28-year-old wife, Ana Casas, were arguing over his household duties when he hit her in the head with a steel pipe and wrapped an extension cord around her neck. He then strangled his daughters one by one, placing them all on the same bed and tying shoelaces around their necks before calling police to his home.\nRios remains jailed in Allen County.