EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) — Logan Kelley walked up to Isis Montoya and slit her throat from behind.
Surveillance cameras captured the brutal killing inside Adelita Bar, a strip club and brothel where Montoya, 19, worked in Tijuana.
As her body falls to the floor, Kelly runs away. Club staff was able to stop him before he made it outside.
Kelley pleaded guilty to the February 2021 killing and was sentenced to 22 years in prison and ordered to pay restitution of about $40,000, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported Monday.
Initially, Kelley faced a charge of femicide, which carries a minimum sentence of 40 years because it is a hate crime in Mexico, but prosecutors in Baja California agreed to a plea deal, the newspaper reported.
Kelley, 28, played collegiate basketball briefly for Rutgers University in New Jersey.
According to the Rutgers website, Kelley played in only three basketball games as a freshman but was kicked off the team at the end of the season for an unknown reason.
Kelley also played for one year at the University of Montevallo in Alabama. He is from Mountain Side, New Jersey. His passport indicates Kelley was born in Ohio.
Initial reports erroneously stated that Kelley was in the United States Marine Corps. In a statement to Border Report at the time, a spokesman for the Marine Corps said Kelley was never a Marine nor was he ever associated with the Corps.
“There is no record of this person ever serving in the Marine Corps,” the statement said.
Investigators released a photo of the alleged murder weapon, which features the words “special forces” on the blade and has a picture of an assault rifle and a seal on the handle.