New Brunswick Man Guilty In Murder Of Ex In South Brunswick

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ — A New Brunswick man was found guilty Tuesday of shooting his ex-girlfriend in the head in South Brunswick in 2015, in a crime that shocked and saddened all of Central New Jersey.

A Middlesex County jury found Giver Quiroz-Vasquez, 28, guilty for first stalking, and then murdering his ex-girlfriend, Alicia Martinez-Izaguirr, 24. Both are from New Brunswick. Vasquez shot the young woman in the head on Wednesday, June 24, 2015 as she pulled into her job at the Prologis Industrial Park on Docks Corner Road. It was the first murder in South Brunswick since 2008 and the first murder by gunfire in more than 20 years.

That day, Vasquez followed his ex-girlfriend from her new boyfriend’s house, prosecutors said. He was driving a 2004 silver Volkswagen Passat, which he borrowed from a friend to trail her, police said. He waited for her while she stopped at Dunkin' Donuts and fired at her car when she turned onto Docks Corner Road in South Brunswick. He missed. He then proceeded to follow her into the parking lot at 241 Docks Corner Road, where she worked, walked up to her car window and shot her twice in the head. It was 7 a.m. and the parking lot was empty at the time.

Martinez was pronounced dead at the scene.

Vasquez fled the area. The Volkswagen Passat was later found abandoned. He was traced the next day to New Hope, Pa., where he was arrested.

Martinez’s family say they want her to be remembered as a hard-working young immigrant, who came to the U.S. ultimately for a better life. Originally from Honduras, she moved here when she was 15 and lived in New Brunswick. She and Vasquez dated for a while, but they broke up.

“She worked when she came to this country,” Martinez’s cousin, Clary Izaguirre Martinez, told Patch. “She went to school, she studied and she had permission to work, so she worked also. She was very good person. A very cheerful person; she never did anything to anyone. She was beautiful.”

“Now he will pay for what he did,” she said. “My family ... we don’t know why he did this."

Vasquez goes by two other names: Gilberto Juarez-Vasques and Erick Morales Sandin. He was also found guilty of unlawful possession of a gun.

Vasquez is facing a prison term of 30 years to life when he is sentenced in New Brunswick on January 18, 2018.

Top photo of Alicia Martinez-Izaguirr provided by her family. Photo of Giver Quiroz-Vasquez courtesy the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office

Related: 'Now He Will Pay,' Murdered Woman's Family Says