A Tijuana man will spend the rest of his life in federal prison for the 2020 abduction and killing of a San Diego teenager, a case prosecutors say started with a stolen load of meth and escalated into a brutal cross-border hostage ordeal.
Brian Alexis Patron Lopez, 24, was sentenced yesterday to life behind bars after a jury found him guilty of hostage-taking that resulted in death, along with an intentional-killing count tied to drug trafficking. Prosecutors said the deadly scheme unfolded in Tijuana after a methamphetamine shipment went missing and a ransom demand followed.
Life Terms Required By Federal Law
U.S. District Judge William Q. Hayes imposed two life sentences for the hostage-taking counts and a concurrent 420-month term for the…..