EDINBURG — A 26-year-old Mission man pleaded guilty to the murder of a woman whose body was disposed of inside a compartment at her boyfriend’s apartment.

Kristian Valenzuela Jr. entered a guilty plea Wednesday morning for the murder of 40-year-old Editza Gomez who died on Aug. 19, 2023.

As part of the plea agreement, Valenzuela may receive a 30-year sentence but it’s contingent based on his truthful testimony against his co-defendant and Gomez’s boyfriend, 35-year-old Reynaldo Cuevas Mercado III.

Additionally, state prosecutors dropped Valenzuela’s second charge of tampering with physical evidence with the intent to impair a human corpse.

The investigation began as a missing person’s report.

Gomez’s last known location was Mercado’s apartment located at 1017 Miller in Mission, accord

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