In the early morning hours of July 30, 2017, the quiet community of Oostburg, Wisconsin, was disturbed by an act of violence that claimed the lives of two men. Hispanic male Fernando Lara Lopez, a 43-year-old from Milwaukee, and 42-year-old Luis Garcia of Oostburg were found shot to death inside a residence in the 400 block of North 10th Street. The Sheboygan County Sheriff's Office received a 911 call from the home at approximately 3:30 a.m., leading to the discovery of the two victims in the
living room, each with gunshot wounds to the chest.
The investigation into the double homicide quickly led to a person of interest. A few days later, on August 2, 2017, authorities arrested 41-year-old Sergio Moises Ochoa, an Oostburg resident. It was reported that Ochoa and one of the victims, Luis Garcia, were relatives. Ochoa was taken into custody and held at the Sheboygan County Detention Center as he awaited formal charges of First Degree Intentional Homicide for the deaths of both Lara Lopez and Garcia.
Sergio Moises Ochoa was later convicted in connection with the killings. The initial charges of first-degree intentional homicide were amended to first-degree reckless homicide. This change was made because, of the three individuals present during the incident, Ochoa was the only one who remained alive, leaving no other direct witnesses to the events that transpired. In October 2019, Ochoa was found guilty.
On March 13, 2020, Sergio Ochoa, then 44, was sentenced for the homicides of his cousin, Luis Garcia, and Garcia's best friend, Fernando Lara. He received a sentence of 25 years in prison, to be followed by 10 years of extended supervision. The conclusion of the legal proceedings brought a measure of closure to a case that had unsettled the small town of Oostburg.
