1 of 3 suspects in Jill Sundberg murder pleads guilty

by Richard Byrd
| January 19, 2018 2:00 AM

EPHRATA — One of three suspects in the 2017 murder of 31-year-old Jill Sundberg entered a guilty plea to second-degree murder this week.

Ambrosio Mendez Villanueva, 26, plead guilty in Grant County Superior Court to the amended charged of second-degree murder. Mendez Villanueva was initially charged with first-degree murder, but the charge was amended in a plea agreement. A sentencing hearing for Mendez Villanueva is set for Monday.

Mendez Villanueva’s co-defendant and the alleged shooter in the Sundberg murder, Gustavo Tapia Rodriguez, 40, is currently charged with first-degree murder, with aggravating circumstances of armed with a firearm, acting with deliberate cruelty, drive-by shooting and kidnapping, and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. A second co-defendant, Julio Cesar Albarran Varona, 26, is charged with first-degree murder, with aggravating circumstances of armed with a firearm, acting with deliberate cruelty, drive-by shooting and kidnapping, and, in the lesser, second-degree murder. The cases for the two men, who remain jailed in lieu of $1 million bail apiece, are scheduled to head to trial April 11.

Sundberg’s body was located Dec. 22, 2017 near a rest area on the Old Vantage Highway, near George. Court documents show Sundberg and Tapia Rodriguez were involved in some sort of an argument at the Shady Tree RV Park, near Quincy, and she was kidnapped and forced into an SUV.

The SUV stopped near the Old Vantage Highway and Tapia Rodriguez allegedly shot Sundberg over a dozen times. Investigators reportedly found a total of 13 .40-caliber shell casings near Sundberg’s body. After the shooting Mendez Villanueva reportedly affixed a handwritten note onto Sundberg’s body with a knife.

The Grant County Sheriff’s Office says the note, which was written in Spanish, contains a reference to the Gulf Cartel, which is one of Mexico’s oldest drug cartels. During testimony before the U.S. Senate's Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee in Washington, D.C., Chief Deputy Ryan Rectenwald said the murder suspects are in the country illegally.

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.