THE DARK SIDE OF IOWA
Jess Espinoza Cuevas
#6663110
photo courtesy WCF Courier
Full Name: Jess Espinoza Cuevas
DOB: February 13, 1956
Charge: 1st degree murder
County: Hardin
City: Eldora
Current Status: Anamosa State Penitentiary
Date of Crime: October 15, 2005
Tentative Discharge Date: Life
Victim: Brenda Cuevas
DOB: February 13, 1956
Charge: 1st degree murder
County: Hardin
City: Eldora
Current Status: Anamosa State Penitentiary
Date of Crime: October 15, 2005
Tentative Discharge Date: Life
Victim: Brenda Cuevas
Brenda Cuevas’ body was found after firefighters extinguished a fire at her home in Eldora at about 3:20 AM on October 15, 2005. It appeared the fire had been deliberately set – the room smelled of gasoline, the air conditioner was turned to its lowest setting, and the gas line to the furnace was disconnected.
That morning, emergency personnel were dispatched to the Eldora home after a 911 caller reported a fire there. Officers arrived at the scene about two minutes later and saw flames on the east side of the house. Finding the front door locked, an officer beat on the door, breaking a glass panel.
The Eldora fire department arrived at 3:27 AM. The fire chief noted that the front door, two of the three garage doors, and the back door were locked. He was able to raise the third garage door. Although it was a cool October morning, the central air conditioning was running. Once inside, the front door was unlocked and a team of firefighters were sent in to put out the fire. That’s when they discovered Brenda’s burned body on the bed in her basement bedroom. There was a strong odor of flammable liquid and a burn pattern on the floor leading to the bed.
Further investigation showed that the gas line had been disconnected from the gas input line of the furnace, which could have led to an explosion. The thermostat was turned all the way down. The fire originated in the basement bedroom, and the burn pattern extended all around the bed, indicating the flammable liquid had been intentionally poured rather than accidentally spilled.
Analysis of the burnt carpet and other items near the bed showed that the flammable liquid was gasoline and oil. The fire probably started ten to thirty minutes before the 3:20 AM 911 call. Brenda had installed alarms on the front and back doors, which had been turned off. There was no indication of forced entry. Brenda’s purse, containing cash and credit cards, remained in the house. No fingerprints suitable for identification were found and blood found on the doors and the hood of the stove matched Brenda’s DNA profile.
The medical examiner observed a strong smell of a substance like gasoline on Brenda’s body and discolorations on her upper body suggesting chemical burns. Brenda’s head had been bludgeoned three to five times with a hard object, fracturing her skull. There were also injuries to her neck consistent with strangulation. Bruising on the muscles of her upper arm was consistent with defensive wounds. The medical examiner determined that Brenda's death was the result of head and neck trauma that occurred before the fire started.
On August 18, 2006, Jess Espinoza Cuevas, Brenda’s estranged husband, was charged with her murder. Brenda and Jess, both nurses, married in October 1992. They had two daughters together. Brenda and Jess separated in May 2005 after Jess began to suspect that Brenda was communicating with an old boyfriend who lived out of state. Brenda initiated divorce proceedings and sought physical custody of the girls. Jess was ordered to pay temporary child support to Brenda, and the girls spent every other weekend with Jess.
After the separation, Brenda and the girls lived with her mother and stepfather for a time, and then moved into a split-level house in Eldora. Brenda installed alarms on both the front and back doors and kept the doors locked. Friends and family observed that Brenda seemed upset when she talked with Jess on the phone.
In May 2005, Jess moved into the rural Norwalk home of an older woman, Dixie Ribar, with whom he worked at a hospital in Knoxville. Dixie’s house was about an hour and forty minutes from Brenda’s home. Dixie lived on the main level of the house while Jess had two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs, and Dixie’s son, Michael, lived on the lower level. Because “money was tight,” Jess mowed the grass and did odd jobs for Dixie to reduce his $200 per month rent. He also used (and was buying) a black Ford Ranger pickup that had belonged to Dixie’s late husband. Jess usually kept the pickup in Dixie’s garage, which was accessed by use of an automatic garage door opener or a key code panel. Dixie testified the only time she knew Jess to be angry was when she overheard him and Brenda discuss money or the girls on the phone.
Jess began dating Deb College in August 2005. In September 2005, they talked about marriage and Jess wanted custody of his girls. Jess was confident that the lawyer he hired would be successful in getting him custody, however, about a week before October 14, 2005, Jess told Deb that his attorney sent him a letter “to drop him” because he was unable to pay his legal fees.
On Friday, October 14, 2005, Brenda took the girls to a local Hy-Vee to meet Jess at 6:30 PM. Jess was driving the black Ford Ranger pickup. The girls were spending the weekend with Jess at Dixie’s house. Dixie and her son were both out of town for the weekend. Jess asked Brenda whether she would be home later that night because he wanted to call and talk to her about the custody issue after the girls went to sleep.
Brenda went to dinner with her parents and then to a gathering at the American Legion with Ivan Miller. She left the American Legion before midnight, telling a friend she needed to get home because she was expecting a call from Jess. Ivan drove her home.
Jess and the girls stopped at a convenience store for a snack before continuing on to Dixie’s house. Jess called Deb at 8:09 PM and told her that they were just pulling into the driveway. Although Jess usually parked the pickup inside the garage, he left it outside that evening.
Jess and the girls had something to eat and watched a movie and then the girls went upstairs around 10:00 PM. Jess told one of his daughters that if she woke up and he was not there, she should not be scared; he was going to the grocery store and she could call him on his cell phone. Jess called Deb again at 10:30 and said the girls were in bed and he was getting ready for bed. Deb thought it was strange that he was going to bed that early; he generally worked night shifts and would not go to sleep until early morning, often talking to her on the phone at 1:00, 2:00 or 3:00 AM.
When Jess went upstairs that night, he tucked the girls in, straightened up their room, and then lay down on the floor next to one of the daughter’s side of the bed and went to sleep. Jess had never slept on the floor in Dixie’s home when the girls were there on other occasions. He was lying on the floor when the other daughter woke up briefly at a later point, and she thought Jess was in there at that time. Jess later told Deb that he left the house at about midnight to get gas for the pickup.
At about 1:40 or 1:45 AM, Richard Jeske and Tiffany Balvanz saw a black or dark-colored pickup driving very slowly and turn onto the street on which Brenda lived. The pickup had a topper, a ball hitch, and a bar or rack on top. Both said that the pictures of Jess’ truck were consistent with the pickup they saw that night, however, Tiffany believed the license plate on the truck she saw was a Hardin County plate.
Cell phone records showed that at 5:07 and 5:08 AM, Jess checked his voice mail. The calls went through a different cell tower in the Norwalk area than the call he made to Deb at 10:30 earlier the previous evening.
At 6:00 AM, one of the daughters woke up to find Jess not there. The other daughter woke up at 7:30 AM when she heard the garage door opening. Jess came into the house with some groceries and said he had gone to get waffles. One of the daughters observed that there were some fresh scratches on Jess’ left hand. She had not seen the scratches the night before. The other daughter noticed a scratch on Jess’ back but he did not respond to her when she asked him about it.
Jess and the girls went to the Jordan Creek Mall and McDonald’s and then stopped at Deb’s house. Deb also observed the scratches on Jess. On the way home, Jess and the girls stopped at a Dollar General Store where Jess bought some cleaning supplies, including hydrogen peroxide, Clorox Oxi Magic, and a package of six terry cloth towels. When Jess and his daughters returned to Dixie’s house, the girls went upstairs to play video games in their bedroom. Jess stayed outside and cleaned his pickup.
Shortly after 5:00 PM, sheriffs and special agents arrived at Dixie’s house. Jess was pulling out of the driveway in the pickup and told the offers he was going to get gas. The officers then informed him of Brenda’s death, and in turn, Jess told the girls of their mother’s death.
The officers interviewed Jess and conducted a consent search of the house, garage and vehicles. They found wet clothing and towels in the washing machine and Jess volunteered information that if they found Brenda’s DNA, it was because he often washed the girls’ clothes. In Jess’ pickup, they found a garbage bag inside of another garbage bag containing towels (similar to the ones found in the washing machine) and the scrub brush Jess used to clean the pickup. The officers did not see a pair of white tennis shoes at that time.
A videotape from the Indianola Wal-Mart from Friday afternoon, October 14, showed Jess wearing white tennis shoes. One of the daughters observed that Jess’ shoes were clean on Friday night. On Saturday after the girls and Jess arrived home from the Dollar General store, one of the girls said she saw the shoes in the garage and observed that they were dirty. On Sunday, October 165, Jess bought new white tennis shoes at Wal-Mart.
During the interview on October 15, Jess told the officers that he and Brenda had been getting along well. Jess then criticized Brenda at length, saying that she drank to excess, spent her time with men, and paid little attention to the girls. Before hearing that the death was considered suspicious, he said that Brenda had been diagnosed with depression and then suggested that her brother, Chad Roy, would benefit financially from her death. When informed that Brenda’s death was suspicious and not accidental, Jess said that she had been with numerous men and the killer could be anyone. He insisted that he had never before left the girls alone. He claimed that when he got home from getting gas, he realized he had forgotten to get waffles and went out again. Both of the girls said he came home only once.
Four days later, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Jess’ residence. During the search, officers took photographs of scratches on Jess’ hand and back. Jess said that he had received the scratches while working on wiring under the dashboard of his pickup. As he talked to officer, Jess claimed he cleaned the pickup on October 15 because a dog had urinated in the back a month or two earlier. Yet he described himself as “anal” about keeping the pickup clean. Jess also told the officers “that his fingerprints would be everywhere or on everything in Brenda’s house” because he had visited numerous times and helped Brenda with repairs.
In the course of the search, officers seized a diamond stud earring Jess was wearing. A special agent poked the earring though a small manila envelope and labeled the envelope with the date, time and a description. As they were readying items to place in bags, two special agents stepped away from the table a few times. When they were finished collecting items, they gave Jess an inventory receipt to review and sign. The next day, they realized that the earring was not with the other items that were seized, nor was it listed on the inventory receipt.
On October 31, investigators again executed a search warrant at Jess’ home. In response to questions, Jess insisted that the officers had taken the earring with them. The officers, though, found the envelope with the special agent’s handwriting ripped up and in a garbage can in the garage. They did not find the earring.
Jess was arrested on August 16, 2006. While in jail, Jess was in the same cell block as Michael Sajulga. Michael and Jess got into an argument one day about which television channel to watch. The exchange became heated. Michael said that he knew Jess was in jail for a killing. According to Michael, Jess responded, “You want to be number two?”
After a jury trial, Jess was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
That morning, emergency personnel were dispatched to the Eldora home after a 911 caller reported a fire there. Officers arrived at the scene about two minutes later and saw flames on the east side of the house. Finding the front door locked, an officer beat on the door, breaking a glass panel.
The Eldora fire department arrived at 3:27 AM. The fire chief noted that the front door, two of the three garage doors, and the back door were locked. He was able to raise the third garage door. Although it was a cool October morning, the central air conditioning was running. Once inside, the front door was unlocked and a team of firefighters were sent in to put out the fire. That’s when they discovered Brenda’s burned body on the bed in her basement bedroom. There was a strong odor of flammable liquid and a burn pattern on the floor leading to the bed.
Further investigation showed that the gas line had been disconnected from the gas input line of the furnace, which could have led to an explosion. The thermostat was turned all the way down. The fire originated in the basement bedroom, and the burn pattern extended all around the bed, indicating the flammable liquid had been intentionally poured rather than accidentally spilled.
Analysis of the burnt carpet and other items near the bed showed that the flammable liquid was gasoline and oil. The fire probably started ten to thirty minutes before the 3:20 AM 911 call. Brenda had installed alarms on the front and back doors, which had been turned off. There was no indication of forced entry. Brenda’s purse, containing cash and credit cards, remained in the house. No fingerprints suitable for identification were found and blood found on the doors and the hood of the stove matched Brenda’s DNA profile.
The medical examiner observed a strong smell of a substance like gasoline on Brenda’s body and discolorations on her upper body suggesting chemical burns. Brenda’s head had been bludgeoned three to five times with a hard object, fracturing her skull. There were also injuries to her neck consistent with strangulation. Bruising on the muscles of her upper arm was consistent with defensive wounds. The medical examiner determined that Brenda's death was the result of head and neck trauma that occurred before the fire started.
On August 18, 2006, Jess Espinoza Cuevas, Brenda’s estranged husband, was charged with her murder. Brenda and Jess, both nurses, married in October 1992. They had two daughters together. Brenda and Jess separated in May 2005 after Jess began to suspect that Brenda was communicating with an old boyfriend who lived out of state. Brenda initiated divorce proceedings and sought physical custody of the girls. Jess was ordered to pay temporary child support to Brenda, and the girls spent every other weekend with Jess.
After the separation, Brenda and the girls lived with her mother and stepfather for a time, and then moved into a split-level house in Eldora. Brenda installed alarms on both the front and back doors and kept the doors locked. Friends and family observed that Brenda seemed upset when she talked with Jess on the phone.
In May 2005, Jess moved into the rural Norwalk home of an older woman, Dixie Ribar, with whom he worked at a hospital in Knoxville. Dixie’s house was about an hour and forty minutes from Brenda’s home. Dixie lived on the main level of the house while Jess had two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs, and Dixie’s son, Michael, lived on the lower level. Because “money was tight,” Jess mowed the grass and did odd jobs for Dixie to reduce his $200 per month rent. He also used (and was buying) a black Ford Ranger pickup that had belonged to Dixie’s late husband. Jess usually kept the pickup in Dixie’s garage, which was accessed by use of an automatic garage door opener or a key code panel. Dixie testified the only time she knew Jess to be angry was when she overheard him and Brenda discuss money or the girls on the phone.
Jess began dating Deb College in August 2005. In September 2005, they talked about marriage and Jess wanted custody of his girls. Jess was confident that the lawyer he hired would be successful in getting him custody, however, about a week before October 14, 2005, Jess told Deb that his attorney sent him a letter “to drop him” because he was unable to pay his legal fees.
On Friday, October 14, 2005, Brenda took the girls to a local Hy-Vee to meet Jess at 6:30 PM. Jess was driving the black Ford Ranger pickup. The girls were spending the weekend with Jess at Dixie’s house. Dixie and her son were both out of town for the weekend. Jess asked Brenda whether she would be home later that night because he wanted to call and talk to her about the custody issue after the girls went to sleep.
Brenda went to dinner with her parents and then to a gathering at the American Legion with Ivan Miller. She left the American Legion before midnight, telling a friend she needed to get home because she was expecting a call from Jess. Ivan drove her home.
Jess and the girls stopped at a convenience store for a snack before continuing on to Dixie’s house. Jess called Deb at 8:09 PM and told her that they were just pulling into the driveway. Although Jess usually parked the pickup inside the garage, he left it outside that evening.
Jess and the girls had something to eat and watched a movie and then the girls went upstairs around 10:00 PM. Jess told one of his daughters that if she woke up and he was not there, she should not be scared; he was going to the grocery store and she could call him on his cell phone. Jess called Deb again at 10:30 and said the girls were in bed and he was getting ready for bed. Deb thought it was strange that he was going to bed that early; he generally worked night shifts and would not go to sleep until early morning, often talking to her on the phone at 1:00, 2:00 or 3:00 AM.
When Jess went upstairs that night, he tucked the girls in, straightened up their room, and then lay down on the floor next to one of the daughter’s side of the bed and went to sleep. Jess had never slept on the floor in Dixie’s home when the girls were there on other occasions. He was lying on the floor when the other daughter woke up briefly at a later point, and she thought Jess was in there at that time. Jess later told Deb that he left the house at about midnight to get gas for the pickup.
At about 1:40 or 1:45 AM, Richard Jeske and Tiffany Balvanz saw a black or dark-colored pickup driving very slowly and turn onto the street on which Brenda lived. The pickup had a topper, a ball hitch, and a bar or rack on top. Both said that the pictures of Jess’ truck were consistent with the pickup they saw that night, however, Tiffany believed the license plate on the truck she saw was a Hardin County plate.
Cell phone records showed that at 5:07 and 5:08 AM, Jess checked his voice mail. The calls went through a different cell tower in the Norwalk area than the call he made to Deb at 10:30 earlier the previous evening.
At 6:00 AM, one of the daughters woke up to find Jess not there. The other daughter woke up at 7:30 AM when she heard the garage door opening. Jess came into the house with some groceries and said he had gone to get waffles. One of the daughters observed that there were some fresh scratches on Jess’ left hand. She had not seen the scratches the night before. The other daughter noticed a scratch on Jess’ back but he did not respond to her when she asked him about it.
Jess and the girls went to the Jordan Creek Mall and McDonald’s and then stopped at Deb’s house. Deb also observed the scratches on Jess. On the way home, Jess and the girls stopped at a Dollar General Store where Jess bought some cleaning supplies, including hydrogen peroxide, Clorox Oxi Magic, and a package of six terry cloth towels. When Jess and his daughters returned to Dixie’s house, the girls went upstairs to play video games in their bedroom. Jess stayed outside and cleaned his pickup.
Shortly after 5:00 PM, sheriffs and special agents arrived at Dixie’s house. Jess was pulling out of the driveway in the pickup and told the offers he was going to get gas. The officers then informed him of Brenda’s death, and in turn, Jess told the girls of their mother’s death.
The officers interviewed Jess and conducted a consent search of the house, garage and vehicles. They found wet clothing and towels in the washing machine and Jess volunteered information that if they found Brenda’s DNA, it was because he often washed the girls’ clothes. In Jess’ pickup, they found a garbage bag inside of another garbage bag containing towels (similar to the ones found in the washing machine) and the scrub brush Jess used to clean the pickup. The officers did not see a pair of white tennis shoes at that time.
A videotape from the Indianola Wal-Mart from Friday afternoon, October 14, showed Jess wearing white tennis shoes. One of the daughters observed that Jess’ shoes were clean on Friday night. On Saturday after the girls and Jess arrived home from the Dollar General store, one of the girls said she saw the shoes in the garage and observed that they were dirty. On Sunday, October 165, Jess bought new white tennis shoes at Wal-Mart.
During the interview on October 15, Jess told the officers that he and Brenda had been getting along well. Jess then criticized Brenda at length, saying that she drank to excess, spent her time with men, and paid little attention to the girls. Before hearing that the death was considered suspicious, he said that Brenda had been diagnosed with depression and then suggested that her brother, Chad Roy, would benefit financially from her death. When informed that Brenda’s death was suspicious and not accidental, Jess said that she had been with numerous men and the killer could be anyone. He insisted that he had never before left the girls alone. He claimed that when he got home from getting gas, he realized he had forgotten to get waffles and went out again. Both of the girls said he came home only once.
Four days later, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Jess’ residence. During the search, officers took photographs of scratches on Jess’ hand and back. Jess said that he had received the scratches while working on wiring under the dashboard of his pickup. As he talked to officer, Jess claimed he cleaned the pickup on October 15 because a dog had urinated in the back a month or two earlier. Yet he described himself as “anal” about keeping the pickup clean. Jess also told the officers “that his fingerprints would be everywhere or on everything in Brenda’s house” because he had visited numerous times and helped Brenda with repairs.
In the course of the search, officers seized a diamond stud earring Jess was wearing. A special agent poked the earring though a small manila envelope and labeled the envelope with the date, time and a description. As they were readying items to place in bags, two special agents stepped away from the table a few times. When they were finished collecting items, they gave Jess an inventory receipt to review and sign. The next day, they realized that the earring was not with the other items that were seized, nor was it listed on the inventory receipt.
On October 31, investigators again executed a search warrant at Jess’ home. In response to questions, Jess insisted that the officers had taken the earring with them. The officers, though, found the envelope with the special agent’s handwriting ripped up and in a garbage can in the garage. They did not find the earring.
Jess was arrested on August 16, 2006. While in jail, Jess was in the same cell block as Michael Sajulga. Michael and Jess got into an argument one day about which television channel to watch. The exchange became heated. Michael said that he knew Jess was in jail for a killing. According to Michael, Jess responded, “You want to be number two?”
After a jury trial, Jess was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Source: Justia US Law