A woman who evaded arrest for more than a decade was sentenced to 40 years for her role in the killing of a 15-year-old girl in 2012, according to a Ellis County and District Attorney’s Office news release.

Jennifer Puente, now 30, pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count each of murder and tampering/fabricating evidence with intent to impair a human corpse.

A judge also sentenced her to 15 years on the latter charge, which will be served concurrently.

On March 17, 2012, a witness found the burning body of Moriah Gonzales on the side of a road in Ennis.

An investigation led police to identify Puente, then 18, and her boyfriend Joe Alvarado, then 29, as suspects in the killing. Alvarado was arrested days at the slaying, but Puente could not be found.

An Ellis County grand jury indicted both on murder and tampering charges. Alvarado was convicted in 2014 and is serving a 34-year prison sentence.

Ellis County prosecutors and Texas Rangers believed Puente fled to Mexico, so officials began working with the U.S. Department of Justice in 2016 to acquire arrest warrants and extradition from the country, according to the release.

Puente was arrested by Mexican authorities in October 2022 and eventually brought to the United States in February 2023. She was booked into the Ellis County jail.

“Many former and current Ellis County prosecutors, investigators, Ennis police officers, Department of Justice officials, and Texas Department of Public Safety peace officers worked tirelessly to find and bring Puente back to Ellis County,” Ann Montgomery, Ellis County and District Attorney, said in the release. “I am proud that this case has concluded, and we could bring justice for Moriah and her family.”

Before Puente’s arrest, Alvarado was interviewed on CNN’s “The Hunt with John Walsh” in 2016, saying he saw Puente fatally stab Gonzales and then helped her dump the body on the side of a road and light it on fire.

He told CNN the three of them were doing drugs at his mother’s house when Puente put a knife to Gonzales’ chin asking, “What is it that you said about not being afraid to die?”

Gonzales said she wasn’t afraid and that Puente “didn’t have the guts to do it;” then two got into a struggle; and Puente stabbed Gonzales, Alvarado said.