Jurors reach verdict in case of Tacoma man accused of killing his mother
Jurors found a Tacoma man guilty of second-degree murder Thursday for the death of his 77-year-old mother, who was attacked in the face with a broken whiskey bottle and strangled last year in the Stadium District apartment they shared.
Sebastian Levy-Aldrete, 50, argued at trial that an intruder killed his mother, Maria Aldrete-Levy, Oct. 16, 2017.
Pierce County prosecutors argued that Levy-Aldrete did it after spending half of the $20,000 his mother had given him to hold as a deposit for a house they planned to buy. They were supposed to sign the closing papers the day she was killed.
Prosecutors also charged Levy-Aldrete with premeditated first-degree murder, but after deliberating since Friday jurors weren’t able to come to a verdict on that count.
He is scheduled to be sentenced next month for the second-degree murder conviction, for which he faces a standard range of roughly 12 to 20 years in prison.
Prosecutors could instead decide to retry him on the first-degree murder charge.
“We are thankful to the Tacoma Police Department and the investigative team that tirelessly worked to put this case together,” deputy prosecutor Jesse Williams told The News Tribune via email. “Sadly, there are no winners in today’s verdict. A beautiful, loving, and vibrant woman was murdered by her son. The jury’s verdict was just, but to those who knew Maria and the defendant, this verdict likely does little to explain their pressing question of why this happened. That answer, and that closure, may never come.”
Levy-Aldrete called 911 to report his mother’s death.
He later told investigators he struggled with and chased his mother’s killer, but prosecutors argued the evidence didn’t support that.
There were no signs of a struggle or a break-in, they said.
Levy-Aldrete argued at trial that it didn’t make sense that he would kill his mother before they closed on the new house and that there had been break-ins at the apartment building before.
He also argued that he and his mother were very close, that she’d been giving him money for years and that it didn’t make sense that she’d be so upset about the finances that he’d kill her.
Lori Aldrete, his aunt and Aldrete-Levy’s sister-in-law of 40 years, told The News Tribune by phone Thursday: “Our family is devastated with the verdict. We feel like we’re now facing a second tragedy.”
Family and friends continue to believe the evidence shows he’s innocent and that the real killer remains at large, she said.
Mother and son were both respected professionals in the community, she said. Aldrete-Levy was the artistic director at the Tacoma Opera, and Levy-Aldrete was the manager of the University of Washington bookstore in Tacoma.
They had a “terrific” relationship and trusted each other, she said, adding that she’s sure her sister-in-law knew where the missing portion of the $20,000 was.
“I knew Maria very, very well,” Aldrete said. “I’ve known Sebastian since he was 5 years old. There was simply no motive.”
This story was originally published November 15, 2018 at 12:25 PM.
