DULUTH, Ga. (TCN) — A man has been convicted of killing a young mother whose decomposed remains were found in a wooded area in 2022.
The Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office announced that a jury found 51-year-old Timothy Krueger guilty on Friday, Aug. 30, of malice murder, felony murder, and aggravated assault in connection with the stabbing death of 19-year-old Sarai Llanos Gomez. He will be sentenced at a later date.
According to prosecutors, on the night of June 16, 2022, Krueger requested an escort but was sent a different woman than the one he wanted. Llanos Gomez reportedly went to his home and they got into a fight about her pay. Krueger had allegedly been robbed by an escort in the past, so he became upset. Llanos Gomez retrieved a knife from the kitchen and attempted to escape, the district attorney’s office said, noting that she was much smaller than the defendant.
According to the district attorney’s office, Krueger took the knife from Llanos Gomez and stabbed her in the back and repeatedly throughout her body. He then reportedly slashed her throat before cutting off her clothes and wrapping her in a blanket. Krueger placed the victim’s body in his vehicle and drove to a wooded area in Hall County, where he dumped her remains, prosecutors said.
The Hall County Sheriff’s Department said Llanos Gomez’s decomposed body was discovered on June 20, 2022, and authorities positively identified her the following month.
Investigators reportedly searched Llanos Gomez’s cellphone activity and found a suspect vehicle on a local Ring camera, pointing to Krueger as the primary suspect. The Hall County Sheriff’s Office announced his initial arrest on Aug. 5, 2022.
According to prosecutors, Kruger admitted to killing Llanos Gomez but claimed self-defense.
District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said, “This was a cruel, brutal way for this young woman to die. Ms. Llanos Gomez has two children who are motherless. This defendant was cold and calculating, and the jury’s swift verdict will deliver much-deserved justice to Ms. Llanos Gomez and to her family and loved ones.”