A 40-year prison sentence was handed down to Andrew Villalon on Wednesday, following his guilty plea to a charge of first-degree murder in the killing of his grandfather, Joseph Seale.
The incident occurred on June 27, 2022, when police responded to a call reporting a stabbing on Kennedy Street in Rio Grande City. Upon arrival, officers found Seale dead with multiple stab wounds. Villalon was subsequently located a street over on Teodora Drive with a knife and was arrested.
His bond was set at $1 million. In a statement, Starr County First Assistant District Attorney Abel Villarreal Jr., who prosecuted the case, expressed satisfaction with the plea terms. “Our office maintained communication with the victim’s families, and today we were able to finalize the plea terms,” Villarreal said.
The motive behind the killing remains undetermined, according to Villarreal, who spoke with Valley Central earlier this year.