Katy man murdered former classmate, victim's software engineer brother's help connect him to crime
KATY, Texas - After four years, a Katy man has been sentenced for his involvement in his former classmate's murder.
Jose Varela, 24, was sentenced to 45 years on Friday after he pled guilty to killing his former Cypress Lakes High School classmate, 22-year-old Zuhyr Hamza Kaleem on April 27, 2019.
"This was a premeditated murder that left a family questioning what happened to their loved one for more than a year," Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said. "With help from the victim’s family, and great police work, we were able to get justice in this horrible case."
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According to the DA’s office, Varela and Kaleem agreed to meet at Valera’s home to make a marijuana deal but when Kaleem arrived, another man, Eric Aguilar, was also there.
Jose Varela (Courtesy Harris County District Attorney's Office)
When they closed the garage door to make the deal, Aguilar shot Kaleem, killing him.
The two men then took Kaleem’s body to Grimes County to burn his remains, officials say. Varela drove Kaleem’s car to Mexico and dumped it to avoid suspicion.
However, Kaleem’s brothers were able to trace his disappearance back to Valera.
Zuhyr Hamza Kaleem (Courtesy Harris County District Attorney's Office)
Kaleem’s family filed a missing person’s report when they couldn’t find him and his brothers used their software engineering skills to identify Varela as the last person to have contact with Kaleem.
After an investigation by detective Demetrius Lewis with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, Varela, Aguilar, and a third man, whose case is still pending, were arrested.
"These defendants thought they had gotten away with murder and had moved on with their lives, but they had not counted on the victim’s brothers and law enforcement relentlessly pursuing Kaleem’s whereabouts," Dupree said. "This family went an entire year, pining away, praying for their loved one to come home only to find that his remains had been burned because of some marijuana and a couple of hundred bucks."
Aguilar was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in November 2022.