Ex-AA Worker Pleads Guilty to Murder
Jesse Tabit January 14, 2016
A former American Airlines ramp worker at Miami International Airport (MIA) has pleaded guilty to murdering an American Airlines supervisor in January 2011 and was sentenced to 25 years in prison Thursday.
The convicted, 54-year-old Joel Rodriguez, admitted to a crime committed against his coworker and girlfriend Ruth Fuentes, then 49. Police originally found Rodriguez shot to death inside her home after reports claimed she wasn’t replying to phone calls or text messages. Authorities then turned their attention to Rodriguez, who had been staying with Fuentes at the time, despite breaking up.
When he was later arrested for threatening his ex-wife in New Jersey, Rodriguez confessed that he got into an argument with Fuentes inside her home, though he said he “blacked out” and couldn’t remember if he had indeed murdered her.
For more information on this story, visit Miami Herald.
[Photo: Miami-Dade Corrections]
