Villa Park Man Sentenced In Girlfriend's Killing

VILLA PARK, IL – A Villa Park man charged with killing his live-in girlfriend and mother of their three children was sentenced Thursday to 70 years in prison, prosecutors said.

Marco-Antonio Rubio, 29, pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree murder, without any plea deal, according to a news release from DuPage County prosecutors.

He has been in the DuPage County Jail since the day after the killing of the woman, 24-year-old Esmeralda DeLuna, on May 19, 2021.

That night, Villa Park police responded to a disturbance in the 300 block of North Princeton Drive house. Officers knocked on the door and heard crying coming from inside.

Two girls from 3 to 6 years old and a 1-year-old boy were found. Officers followed a trail of blood in the living room that led to DeLuna, who was lying in the kitchen with an 8-inch butcher knife in her leg and stab wounds in her torso, police said. She was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

After the attack, Rubio left. An investigation into the killing led authorities to Rubio, who was taken into custody early the following morning while walking near Harvard Avenue and Elm Street in Villa Park, police said.

Nearly two weeks before the killing, Rubio was served an order of protection, with DeLuna listed as the petitioner, police said.

"While what essentially amounts to a life sentence behind bars cannot erase the vicious murder of a loving mother, perhaps Esmeralda’s surviving family and friends can find some measure of solace knowing justice was delivered in Esmeralda’s name," DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said in a statement.

Rubio will be required to serve 100 percent of his sentence before being eligible for parole, prosecutors said. He will be 99 in 70 years.