Crime & Safety

Joliet Killer Guilty of Gunning Down Man Over Pal's Gal

A jury deliberated for about six hours before finding Jesus Zambrano guilty of murder.

A jury took about six hours to find a Joliet man guilty of gunning down the boyfriend of his buddy's love interest.

Jesus Zambrano, 23, faces up to 75 years in prison for the May 2009 of Robert Gooch.

Another man, Pedro Sanchez, 34, also of Joliet, already has been convicted of first-degree murder in connection with this shooting and is serving a 61-year prison sentence.

Zambrano and Sanchez confronted Gooch at the apartment of Gooch’s girlfriend, Ellissa Hinton, according to trial testimony. Hinton testified she was having sex occasionally with Sanchez, but that she wouldn’t allow their relationship to go further by leaving Gooch.

Hinton testified she and Gooch had watched the NBA playoffs and had gone to bed on the night of the murder. Later that evening, Gooch answered the apartment’s buzzer while she remained in the bedroom. She testified she heard Sanchez’s voice in the living room and someone saying “my girl” just before she heard a single gunshot.
She went to the living room to find Gooch lying on the floor bleeding from the head. An autopsy later revealed Gooch died from a gunshot wound to the back of the head. Gooch’s two young children were sleeping on a sofa bed in the living room at the time of the murder.

“In a despicable act of brutality, Zambrano and Sanchez gunned down an unarmed man while his two children were sleeping in the same room,” said Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow. “Thanks to a first-rate investigation by the Joliet Police Department and top-notch trial work by two fine prosecutors, it will be a long time before Jesus Zambrano can even begin to think about walking our streets.”

Assistant State’s Attorneys Dan Walsh and Tricia McKenna entered into evidence security tapes from the apartment complex showing Zambrano and Sanchez arriving at the parking lot in the Sanchez’s car, getting out of the vehicle and then returning to the car before driving away. A witness testified he saw Zambrano retrieve an object from under the hood of Sanchez’s car before the two entered the apartment complex. Zambrano and Sanchez were caught on video running from the building after Gooch was shot.

Glasgow also thanked his chief investigator, Jim Stewart, for going the extra mile to locate a reluctant witness whose testimony was crucial to the successful prosecution of this case.

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