Prosecutors said he tracked Daniela Allende after seeing her with another man and later told police the stabbing was “a joke.”

READING, Pa. — A Berks County man was sentenced to 20 to 40 years in state prison after pleading guilty to third-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of his ex-girlfriend, a killing prosecutors said followed a jealous confrontation after he saw her at a restaurant with another man.

The sentence resolved a case that began on Jan. 29, 2025, inside a home on Amity Street in Reading. Prosecutors said Samuel Lopez-Ordones, 34, tracked 27-year-old Daniela Allende after their breakup, confronted her later that night and stabbed her in the chest. He had originally faced charges including first-degree murder, but those counts were dropped under a plea agreement. The outcome left in place a long prison term while avoiding a trial over motive, intent and the sequence of events inside the house.

Investigators said the relationship had recently ended after about 10 years, and Allende had told Lopez-Ordones to move out of the home they had shared with their children and members of her family. Prosecutors said that after the breakup, Lopez-Ordones secretly placed a GPS tracking device on Allende’s vehicle. On Jan. 29, 2025, he used that tracker to follow her to a restaurant parking lot, where he saw her with another man. Later that evening, authorities said, he followed her back to the residence in the 1200 block of Amity Street. Once inside, the two argued. Prosecutors said Lopez-Ordones picked up a knife and stabbed Allende in the chest. Afterward, he went upstairs and told Allende’s sister he had done something bad. Police were called to the home at about 8:50 p.m. Officers found Allende suffering from a fatal wound, and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

The remark that drew the most attention came after the killing. According to reports on the case, Lopez-Ordones later told police the stabbing had been “a joke.” Prosecutors treated that statement not as a credible explanation but as part of a disturbing effort to minimize what had happened. The facts laid out in public accounts pointed instead to jealousy and surveillance. The GPS tracker became a key detail because it suggested Lopez-Ordones had monitored Allende’s movements after the breakup and used that information to confront her. The case also appeared to unfold in front of people close to the victim. Allende’s sister was in the home, and the family setting added to the force of the prosecution’s account. Publicly available reports do not describe a long physical fight before the stabbing, nor do they indicate that Allende was armed. The state’s theory centered on Lopez-Ordones following her, confronting her and turning anger over the breakup into deadly violence.

The killing fit a pattern that prosecutors often describe in intimate-partner homicides: the danger period after a separation, when one partner refuses to accept that a relationship is over. Still, the public record in this case remained rooted in specific evidence rather than broad claims. Authorities tied the timing of the stabbing to the restaurant sighting and to Lopez-Ordones’ use of the tracker on Allende’s vehicle. Reading police identified him soon after the attack, and the case moved through Berks County court over the next year. Allende’s death also reverberated beyond the courtroom because she was a young mother and member of a large family. Her obituary described a woman born in Guanajuato, Mexico, who was deeply connected to her parents, siblings and children. Those details did not alter the legal questions, but they gave the case a clearer human frame as it moved from arrest to plea and sentencing.

The legal route changed sharply by the time the case reached its conclusion. Lopez-Ordones had initially been charged with first-degree murder, third-degree murder, aggravated assault and related offenses. In February 2026, he pleaded guilty to third-degree murder, and the remaining counts were dropped as part of the agreement. A judge then sentenced him to 20 to 40 years in state prison, the maximum sentence available for that offense under the plea. The agreement meant prosecutors no longer had to prove premeditation to a jury, while the defense avoided the risk of a conviction on the most serious charge. No publicly detailed defense theory survived into sentencing beyond the negotiated plea. The sentence ensured Lopez-Ordones will serve a lengthy term for the killing, though parole eligibility and exact release calculations will be handled later under Pennsylvania corrections rules.

What remains most striking in the case is how quickly the final act unfolded after the earlier tracking and confrontation. Investigators said Lopez-Ordones saw Allende with another man, followed her home and then killed her inside a residence where family members were present. The prosecution’s account did not depend on a hidden motive or a mystery suspect. It rested on a known former partner, a known grievance and a direct trail from surveillance to violence. That clarity may help explain why the case ended in a plea instead of a trial. Even so, some details remain outside the public record, including the full exchange between the two before the stabbing and whether Lopez-Ordones made any additional statements after police arrived. What the case did establish in open court was the legal conclusion that Allende was killed by a former partner who tracked her movements and attacked her in a moment prosecutors tied to jealousy.

With the plea entered and sentence imposed, the criminal case is now largely complete unless an appeal or post-conviction challenge follows. The next formal milestone would come only if Lopez-Ordones seeks later review of the conviction or sentence.

Author note: Last updated March 15, 2026.