Man sentenced to life in prison without parole for kidnapping, killing Pasadena mother of 4

HOUSTON - A Houston man who kidnapped and fatally shot is ex-girlfriend, a Pasadena mother of four, was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Tuesday. 

According to a release from Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, Daniel Chacon, 32, was convicted of capital murder for killing his ex-girlfriend, 38-year-old Maira Guiterrez, in October of 2022. 

Daniel Chacon

Officials stated the couple had broken up about a month before the murder. 

Chacon, who was the father of Gutierrez’s youngest child, had temporary custody of the 6-month-old. The baby lived with him and his new girlfriend, who was pregnant and also had an older child with Chacon, officials said. 

Gutierrez came to visit her baby regularly while Chacon was at work, usually around 9 a.m.

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On the day of her murder, officials said Gutierrez was visiting the baby at Chacon’s apartment in the 3800 block of Red Bluff around 9 a.m. while Chacon was not present. During the visit, Chacon placed a phone call to order Gutierrez to abruptly stop her visit and leave his apartment.

When Gutierrez returned to her silver SUV in the parking lot of Chacon’s apartment complex, Chacon was hiding in the backseat with a handgun, according to the report. 

Witnesses at the complex reported to authorities that they heard Gutierrez screaming for help and saw Chacon chase after Gutierrez as she attempted to run away. Witnesses then saw Chacon force Gutierrez into the backseat of her SUV at gunpoint. He then got in the driver’s seat of Gutierrez’s vehicle and fled as neighbors called 911. 

Maira Gutierrez

An emergency ping was issued for Gutierrez’s phone, which was found about 13 miles from Chacon’s apartment on the side of the 610 Loop by officers with the Houston Police Department.

Shortly after, officials said Gutierrez’s SUV was found near the location of her recovered phone in an industrial construction site in the 5200 block of Cedar Crest in southeast Houston. Gutierrez was inside, dead from a gunshot wound to the head.

Chacon fled to Mexico but later turned himself in, officials said. 

"This administration has made domestic violence crimes a priority since the beginning precisely because of horrible cases like this," Ogg said in a news release. "This was a mother who was doing everything right to get away from a violent and controlling partner but still lost her life, and the only just result is that he spends every day of the rest of his life in prison."

"This was always about Daniel Chacon trying to control Maira, taking advantage of the system to lie, make false statements and play games with her over custody of her child," Dupont said. "We believe he killed her because he was about to lose that leverage, because she was doing everything right."