An illegal immigrant pleaded guilty Monday to killing his girlfriend and dumping her body on the side of a freeway in Michigan, after former President Donald Trump highlighted the case earlier in the year.
Brandon Ortiz-Vite, 25, shot Ruby Garcia dead inside a car on the side of U.S.-131 in Grand Rapids in March after she told him she didn’t want to be with him anymore.
The Mexican national, whom ICE confirmed to Newsweek this year was in the U.S. illegally, then dumped the 25-year-old’s body and fled. He handed himself over to police two days later in a phone call made from a nearby church. Ortiz-Vite pleaded guilty to four offenses, including second-degree murder. He will avoid a trial and will be sentenced on October 31.
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event on April 2 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in which he spoke of “Biden’s Border Bloodbath” and highlighted the killing of Ruby Garcia in the city. Inset: Brandon Ortiz-Vite pleaded guilty to Garcia’s murder on September 23.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images/Kent County Jail
The killing became a key talking point for Trump, the Republican presidential nominee who has repeatedly talked about a wave of migrant crime and blamed it on President Joe Biden.
During a visit to Grand Rapids in April, Trump said he hoped Garcia’s family would come to a rally he was holding in the area before telling the crowd that he had spoken to them.
“Ruby’s loved ones and community are left grieving for this incredible young woman,” Trump said Tuesday. “They said she had just this most contagious laughter and when she walked into a room, she lit up that room, and I’ve heard that from so many people. I spoke to some of her family.”
Her sister later told local station WXMI that the former president had not spoken to any of the family.
Garcia’s murder was one of several cases highlighted by Trump and the Republican Party as part of its claims that Biden had allowed illegal immigrants into the country who then went on to commit violent crimes.
Ortiz-Vite, who entered the country illegally as a child, was removed from the U.S. by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on September 29, 2020, over a drunk-driving offense. He crossed back into the U.S., but it is unknown if that was during Trump’s term or once Biden was in office.
Garcia met her killer about a year earlier, with Michigan State Police stating the pair were in a romantic relationship, although this was later denied by relatives.
On March 22, 2024, the pair were in a car on the freeway and were arguing about their relationship. Ortiz-Vite had been drinking and using cocaine, he later told police, and became upset when Garcia pulled over and told him to leave the vehicle.
He reportedly reached for a handgun and shot her multiple times before dumping her body, which was found later that night.
Two days later, Ortiz-Vite called 911 and said: “I’m calling ’cause I wanna turn myself in for a murder I committed two nights ago.”
He faces 30 to 37 years in prison when he is sentenced next month. After that, ICE would take over with removal proceedings.
Newsweek reached out to the Kent County Prosecutor’s Office via phone and the Trump campaign via email for comment Tuesday afternoon.
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