A man was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 2013 murder of his ex-girlfriend in west suburban Glen Ellyn.
Myron D. Ester, 50, was found guilty of the first-degree murder in January for the death of Linda Valez, the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office said in a statement.
Ester’s sentence also includes an additional five years for concealment of the homicide, prosecutors said.
In 2013, police found Valez’s body after spotting drops of blood and a shallow grave in Panfish Park, prosecutors said. She had been stabbed 39 times on Sept. 24 when an argument between Ester and her turned violent, according to prosecutors.
Myron D. Ester | DuPage County sheriff’s office
“With each of the 39 plunges of the knife, Mr. Ester’s premeditated murder not only took Linda from those who loved her, but he also cut the very fabric of society,” DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said in a statement.
On the night of her death, Ester loitered at a McDonald’s where Valez worked and harassed her, a lawsuit filed in 2015 by Valez’s mother claimed.
Fellow employees saw Ester staring at Valez “continuously and menacingly” and threatening to kill her, the lawsuit claimed.
At the end of her shift, Ester was seen “accosting her in the doorway and parking lot” and forcing Valez to accompany him to Panfish Park, the lawsuit claimed.
Valez was reported missing the following day, and was found three days later by officers searching the park, where Ester was known to frequent, prosecutors said.
Ester was arrested on Sept. 29, 2013, and has been held without bail ever since, prosecutors said.
