GRAND RAPIDS (WWJ) — A man who pleaded guilty to killing his girlfriend while in the U.S. illegally will spend at least the next three decades behind bars.
Brandon Ortiz-Vite was sentenced Thursday to 37 to 100 years in prison for the killing of Ruby Garcia. The Mexican national pleaded guilty in September to charges of second-degree murder, carjacking and carrying a concealed weapon.
The 25-year-old Garcia was found shot to death on the side of US-131 in Grand Rapids the night of Friday, March 22. Investigators found her stolen car abandoned the following day in Allegan County. He then called from a church near Fennville on Sunday morning and told police he wanted to turn himself in.
After serving his sentence, Ortiz-Vite may face deportation, according to a report from WZZM. Immigration officials have said Ortiz-Vite illegally entered the U.S. from Mexico when he was a child, but had been approved to stay under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, according to a WOOD TV report.
Ortiz-Vite’s DACA status reportedly expired in 2019 and he was deported the following year after being arrested for impaired driving. It was not clear when he returned to the U.S.
The case garnered national attention, including from President Elect Donald Trump’s campaign, as he blamed the Biden administration’s border policies for Garcia’s death during an event in Grand Rapids in April.
Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker said at the time the shooting was investigated as a case of domestic violence, as Garcia had told Ortiz-Vite she wanted to break up that night.
Detectives found Garcia’s phone at the scene the night her body was found. Text message between the couple showed they had agreed to meet that night, about an hour before she was killed, according to prior reports from WZZM. Ortiz-Vite confessed to shooting Garcia multiple times while he was in her car after they had gotten into an argument, according to the report.
He told investigators he then got out of the car, walked to the driver’s side and shot her again. He then pulled her body out of the car and drove away, before abandoning it in South Haven the following day.
At Thursday’s sentencing, Judge Mark Trusock told Ortiz-Vite, “you, sir, are a cold-blooded murderer.”
“This is an intentional crime, and you are a danger to society. You are a very violent individual, and you need to be removed from society,” Trusock said, according to the WOOD TV report. “I hope every single night, you think about the damage that you did to this family and what you did to this young lady.”
Before he was sentenced, Ortiz-Vite said his actions did not represent his community. WOOD TV reported.
“I want to apologize to my community, my Latino/Hispanic/Mexican community. I am a proud Mexican national whose actions have brought great shame and dishonor to our people, our people who come to the United States in search for a better living — a dream that I have taken for granted, which has filled my heart with shame,” Ortiz-Vite said Thursday, per the WOOD report. “The actions I took on the night of March 22 do not define who my people are. I apologize with the utmost respect to all immigrants from all walks of life.”
WZZM reported Becker “addressed the politics that had emerged around the case.”
"No question, this is a domestic violence case," Becker said. "Yes, there is the bigger political thing, but this is something that you know, once again, talking with the family, this is a boyfriend-girlfriend, and we've got to treat it kind of like many other cases, and being very respectful to the family. We don't, I don't want to get caught up- They were obviously uncomfortable being a part of all this in the media storm."