Judge sentences Ceres business owner for strangling husband, stuffing him in freezer
A Stanislaus County judge on Monday formally sentenced Jacob Medina Cervantes for killing his husband and stuffing his body into a freezer at the Ceres auto body shop they owned.
Superior Court Judge Shawn Bessey sentenced Cervantes, 31, to 12 years and four months in prison for the death of Thomas Kroger. The sentence was the result of the defendant’s plea deal with the prosecution.
Cervantes and Kroger, 49, were married and business partners, but their relationship turned violent after Kroger became upset about cars not being repaired on time as promised. Testimony indicated that Cervantes was married to someone else and seemed to living a double life.
Cervantes told then Ceres police detective Derek Perry that Kroger came at him with a knife in his hand at the auto body shop, according to testimony from an October 2015 preliminary hearing.
The defendant said he took off his jacket and wrapped it around his hand to defend himself against Kroger, according to Perry. Cervantes also said he punched Kroger six to seven times in the face to subdue him. Kroger dropped the knife, and then Cervantes strangled him.
On April 14, 2014, police found Kroger’s body stuffed inside in a chest-style freezer. Authorities believe Kroger had been killed sometime after Dec. 1, 2013.
Police made the discovery while helping the property owner of the industrial complex off Railroad Avenue, south of Whitmore Avenue, with a civil complaint against Cervantes. Inside the shop, there were hardly any pieces of repair equipment or tools.
On May 6, Cervantes pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in Kroger’s death. Cervantes also pleaded guilty to grand theft for stealing more than $950 from Kroger, which included withdrawing cash and taking Kroger’s personal belongings after the victim’s death.
Cervantes told police he used Kroger’s credit cards and grabbed Kroger’s belongings at the shop, before burning them in a Delhi park barbecue pit.
The defendant also pleaded guilty to a charge of filing false documentation to marry Kroger. Deputy District Attorney John R. Mayne, who prosecuted the case, said Cervantes lied in filed documentation when he said he wasn’t already married to someone else.
Mindy Gutierrez told Perry she was married to Cervantes. She also told the detective that blankets investigators found in the freezer appeared to be bedding they used to have in a home Gutierrez and the defendant previously shared.
Gutierrez and the defendant had been together since they were teenagers. She said her husband was, at times, very secretive and would not live with her. When investigators questioned Gutierrez and her husband on April 15, 2014, Cervantes was living with his wife at her parents’ home but wasn’t staying there every night.
During the 2014 police interview, Cervantes seemed reluctant to discuss his relationship with Kroger. Perry testified that Cervantes had “Thomas” tattooed on his chest, and Kroger had “Jacob” tattooed on his chest.
At Monday’s sentencing, nobody showed up to speak on Kroger’s behalf. The plea deal allowed Cervantes to avoid a trial. Had a jury convicted him of second-degree murder, he could have faced a maximum of 15 years to life in prison.
As part of the deal, Cervantes agreed that he will not be credited with time he’s already served while in custody at the Stanislaus County Jail. He has been held there since April 15, 2015.
Since pleading guilty in early May, Cervantes has earned credit for 72 days in jail that will go toward his prison sentence.
This story was originally published July 8, 2019 at 4:34 PM.