Bio 

Samuel Villegas Lopez was born on June 30, 1962. He grew up with poverty, neglect, abuse, homelessness, and substance abuse. He reportedly left school in the ninth grade and became addicted to inhaling paint. Before the murder of Estefana Holmes, Lopez had already been connected to serious criminal behavior. Less than a week after Holmes was killed, he was arrested in a separate rape case. Evidence from Holmes’s body was later matched to Lopez, linking him to her murder.

After his conviction, Lopez filed many appeals and clemency requests. His lawyers argued that the jury had not heard enough about his childhood and mental condition. The courts rejected his final appeals, and his request for clemency was denied before his execution.

Murder Story

The murder happened on October 29, 1986, in Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona. Samuel Villegas Lopez broke into the apartment of Estefana Holmes, a 59-year-old woman who lived alone. Holmes was a seamstress and grandmother.

Lopez sexually assaulted Holmes inside her apartment. She was beaten, gagged with a lace scarf, and blindfolded with her own pajama bottoms. Her body was later found nude from the waist down. The crime scene showed signs of a violent struggle, with blood found in several rooms of the apartment.

Holmes suffered severe knife wounds. She had multiple stab wounds to her head and face, 23 stab wounds to her left breast and upper chest, additional wounds to her abdomen, and her throat had been cut. The Arizona Supreme Court later described the evidence as showing that Holmes endured a severe and prolonged attack.

Lopez was arrested soon after in connection with a separate sexual assault. After that arrest, investigators compared evidence from Holmes’s body with Lopez’s body fluids, and the match connected him to the murder. Records also state that while being questioned on an unrelated matter, Lopez asked about a woman who had been stabbed and had her throat cut, even though that detail had not been publicly released.

Lopez was charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping, sexual assault, and first-degree burglary. His trial began on April 16, 1987, before Judge Peter T. D’Angelo in Maricopa County. Prosecutor Paul Abler handled the case. On April 27, 1987, Lopez was found guilty. On June 25, 1987, he was sentenced to death for murder and received three consecutive 21-year terms for kidnapping, sexual assault, and burglary.

In 1990, the Arizona Supreme Court affirmed Lopez’s convictions but vacated the death sentence and ordered a new sentencing proceeding. The resentencing took place on August 3, 1990, and Lopez was again sentenced to death. In 1993, the Arizona Supreme Court affirmed the second death sentence.

Lopez continued to challenge his conviction and sentence in state and federal courts. In 2011, the Ninth Circuit rejected his federal habeas claims. In 2012, he made final challenges to Arizona’s execution procedures and to the clemency process, including a temporary stay connected to clemency-board training. Those final efforts did not stop the execution.

Samuel Villegas Lopez was executed by lethal injection on June 27, 2012, at the state prison complex in Florence, Arizona. The execution began at 10:08 a.m., and he was pronounced dead at 10:37 a.m.