Family forgives man given life in Fort Worth triple slaying

Looking into the eyes of the man who killed his family, James Serrano took off his glasses and fought back tears while sharing a story Thursday morning.

It began with him walking out of his south Fort Worth house moments after he found his wife and two daughters dead on June 3, 2014.

He talked of going to the police station and answering questions from a Fort Worth detective. He said he fell to his knees in prayer after the detective left the room, asking God to forgive the sins of his now-deceased loved ones and of those responsible for their deaths.

“Cedric, I forgave you before I knew it was you,” Serrano told Cedric McGinnis, 23.

Minutes earlier, McGinnis had pleaded guilty to capital murder in the robbery and slayings of his ex-girlfriend, April Serrano, 21; her sister, Kathy DeLeon, 35; and their mother, Cynthia Serrano, 48.

As part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, state District Judge Ruben Gonzalez sentenced McGinnis to life in prison without parole.

“You got a second chance to life that my girls don’t have,” James Serrano told McGinnis. “Cedric, turn your heart, turn your life, to the Lord. Let him guide you. That’s the only way to make it.”

Three other family members and a friend of the victims took the stand after James Serrano, each describing their loss and suffering while also delivering a message of forgiveness.

“You’ve been given an opportunity [where] somebody in this particular situation would have probably gotten death,” said Anthony DeLeon, Cynthia Serrano’s brother. “So live it. Live it to the fullest. Be wise. Don’t go down that other road, man.”

‘My sister, Cynthia, she fought’

James Serrano had just returned from working a late shift when he found his family dead inside the home in the 500 block of West Felix Street.

April Serrano and Kathy DeLeon had been shot. Their mother had been shot and repeatedly stabbed.

Property was also missing.

Hours later, McGinnis posted a message about the death of his ex-girlfriend and her family on his Facebook page: “R.I.P April Marie Serrano mane. Its always the innocent ones that get [expletive] over. Gone but never forgotten. #lovetothefamily #lovetoher.”

Police questioned McGinnis early on June 4 after learning that April Serrano had recently begun seeing McGinnis again.

He initially denied involvement but later confessed to investigators that he killed the three women. He told police that April Serrano let him sneak into her bedroom window so the two could have sex and that he planned to steal items from the home after she fell asleep.

When she woke up and caught him in the act, McGinnis told police, he shot her and turned the gun on her sister, who had been asleep on the couch.

He said he then shot Cynthia Serrano in the master bedroom but ran out of ammunition and began stabbing her with a knife. When that knife bent, he stabbed her with a second knife until she was dead, he told police.

“My sister, Cynthia, she fought,” Anthony DeLeon told the Star-Telegram after Thursday’s hearing. “She was a fighter. She was such a loving soul, but she was like … the lion. She didn’t let nobody mess with her cubs.”

McGinnis told investigators that he stole electronics, shoes and change from three piggy banks, as well as other items.

Police found the suspected murder weapons — a gun and two knives, one of them bent — along with many of the stolen items at a Haltom City apartment rented by the mother of McGinnis’ two young children.

Kim D’Avignon, the prosecutor on the case, said the victims were greatly loved by their family and friends.

“This defendant slaughtered them for some electronics, shoes and piggy-bank change,” she said. “There is no place in society for that kind of evil. This plea ensures he will never breathe free air again.”

‘He couldn’t take it’

The arrest of McGinnis, who had previously been accepted in the family, came as a shock.

Amanda Lopez, Cynthia Serrano’s niece, said April Serrano was in high school when she met McGinnis at a Subway restaurant in Hulen Mall.

They dated off and on for years, and April Serrano eventually gave up a full scholarship at a North Carolina college to remain in the area and be with him.

“He was part of our family. He would come to Thanksgiving, Christmas, different events like that,” Lopez said. “He was always with us. We laughed, had good times. He was just like one of us.”

But the couple broke up about 18 months before the slayings.

Relatives said April Serrano seemed to be moving forward with her life. She had a good job and a new car and was going to school to get her nurse’s certification.

“He was more of a thing of the past,” Lopez said. “If they did see each other, it was just a little fling.”

Anthony DeLeon said he believes McGinnis was bothered that Serrano was no longer as focused on him.

“When he saw her riding around, coming back up, he wanted part of this again, and she didn’t let him. She kind of used him the way he used to use her,” Anthony DeLeon said. “I believe because he wasn’t able to control her anymore, he started being more manipulative. He couldn’t take it.”

Prosecutors had initially intended to seek the death penalty against McGinnis, who had been jailed on $1.25 million bail since his arrest.

Anthony DeLeon said that while he initially supported seeking the death penalty, family members sought God’s guidance after prosecutors discussed a possible plea bargain.

“We as a family came together, first through prayer, seeking God for his answer and came to the answer that he deserves a chance to live and to be forgiven,” he said.

That forgiveness wasn’t easy, they admit.

‘Cedric was deeply moved’

Jeanette DeLeon, Anthony DeLeon’s wife, said that she wrote a letter — with hurtful comments about McGinnis — to read in court but that God moved her to say something else.

“God was, ‘No, this is not what you’re going to say to this man for the very last time. You’re going to forgive him and you’re going to let him go in peace because I want you to be at peace,’” Jeanette DeLeon said. “I felt such a relief and such a heaviness just lift from me, and I knew that he wasn’t the problem anymore. … When you hold that unforgiveness, it eats you up alive.”

Lopez said Thursday’s plea will help the family move forward.

“For me, it’s finding peace again — not so much focusing on what has happened or what he did but focusing on what they left behind for us. The memories. The legacy of their lives,” Lopez said. “I feel today that I was freed.”

As McGinnis’ family left the courtroom Thursday, the prison-bound man’s father and grandmother paused to say a few words to the victims’ relatives, many of whom were wearing white T-shirts with a picture of the three slain women, their names and the words In Loving Memory.

McGinnis’ father repeatedly told the group, “God Bless” and “I’m sorry.”

The victims’ relatives said that at a pretrial hearing, they had felt an air of animosity between their family and McGinnis’.

“Today, I felt like they were like us,” Lopez said. “Just a hurting family that needed to be freed.”

Attorney Joetta Keene, who represented McGinnis with Rose Anna Salinas, said the love shown by the family was “something special.”

“They showed all of us what forgiveness feels like. Instead of anger they told Cedric they loved him and forgave him. Cedric was deeply moved. He has never been anything but filled with remorse about what he did. He confessed quickly and always intended to plead guilty,” Keene said in an email.

“He never expected to be treated with the kindness that this sweet family showed him today. The … shirts called the women ‘angels’ and I think today those angels came to a courtroom in Tarrant County and blessed a room full of hurting people.”

This story was originally published September 10, 2015 at 4:25 PM with the headline "Family forgives man given life in Fort Worth triple slaying."