(Marietta, Ga. — Nov. 22, 2024) — Cobb County District Attorney Flynn D. Broady Jr. announces that Hugho Pacheco, 53, entered a guilty plea to malice murder and aggravated sexual battery after seating a jury on November 18, 2024. Superior Court Judge Julie Adams Jacobs sentenced Pacheco to life in prison. 

On April 25, 2023, three juvenile girls woke up to a loud bang. When they exited their bedrooms, the juveniles saw their mother on the ground and her boyfriend, Hugho Pacheco, standing over her. Pacheco hurried the girls back to a bedroom and told them to be quiet. 

Afraid that Pacheco may kill them, the girls remained in the bedroom. A few minutes later, they observed Pacheco outside of the bedroom window putting something in the trunk of their mother’s vehicle. Pacheco then got into the vehicle and fled the state.

The victim’s 13-year-old daughter ran to a downstairs tenant to obtain a cell phone, where she was able to call police.

When police responded, they found the girls’ mother, identified as Yuridiana Villalobos, 58, lying deceased, suffering from a single gunshot wound to the abdomen, on the dining room floor wrapped in a sheet. Shortly after arrival, officers found the girls’ cell phones scattered in the driveway, a 9mm casing on the master bed inside the locked bedroom, and underwear that had been shoved in the mother’s mouth.

During the forensic interviews, it was disclosed that Pacheco had been sexually abusing one of the juvenile girls inside the home before the murder. 

Approximately two weeks later, Pacheco was arrested in Alamo, Texas by the U.S. Marshals. 

“Today’s outcome ensures that this predator will never harm another innocent person. I commend the courage of the victim’s children and the swift, thorough work of law enforcement and prosecutors who brought Hugho Pacheco to justice,” said District Attorney Flynn D. Broady Jr. 

“These little girls were separated from their father in 2021. Their mother let Pacheco into their home, thinking he would take care of them and be a father figure to her daughters. She was horribly mistaken. Pacheco robbed them of their childhood, robbed them of their innocence, and robbed them of their mother. The damage to these children is immeasurable.” said Senior Assistant District Attorneys Stephanie Green and Jared Horowitz, who prosecuted the case. “It was an honor to fight for these little girls who showed an incredible amount of bravery as they faced their mother’s killer and abuser in Court. Their mother would have been proud.”

Senior Assistant District Attorney Stephanie Green and Assistant District Attorney Jared Horowitz prosecuted the case on behalf of the state, while the defendant was represented by attorney James Waring Gibert.