Delaware Supreme Court Upholds Life Sentence in 2017 Bear Murder
Written by Kiss Media on 27 October 2026
The Delaware Supreme Court has unanimously upheld the conviction and life sentence of Elder Saavedra for the 2017 death of Lester Mateo, 23, of Pennsville, New Jersey.
The killing happened in the early morning hours of March 26, 2017, in the parking lot of El Nuevo Rodeo Restaurant on Firedancer Lane in Bear. According to Delaware State Police, an altercation inside the restaurant came first. Mateo then went out to the lot, got into a Cadillac Escalade, drove a short distance, and stepped out. Investigators determined Saavedra then got into the SUV and drove it into Mateo, pinning him against another parked vehicle, before fleeing on foot. Mateo was taken to Christiana Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The Delaware Division of Forensic Sciences ruled the death a homicide.
Saavedra was arrested on a warrant obtained in May 2017 while he was being held in Pennsylvania on an immigration detainer, and he was later extradited to Delaware. After a six-day trial in September 2018 featuring testimony from 14 witnesses and more than 150 pieces of evidence, including nightclub surveillance footage, a Superior Court jury found him guilty of first-degree murder and possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony. In March 2019, he was sentenced to life in prison for the murder plus 10 more years on the weapons charge.
Saavedra later argued his counsel was ineffective, pointing to the failure to hire an accident reconstruction expert, questioning of prosecution witnesses, challenges to identification testimony, and the closing argument. Superior Court rejected that postconviction bid. In its October 22, 2026 ruling, the Supreme Court said the lower court should have let amended claims move forward, but had also weighed them on the merits and properly rejected them. The panel was Chief Justice Collins J. Seitz Jr. and Justices Gary F. Traynor and N. Christopher Griffiths.
Source: First State Update — https://firststateupdate.com/2026/10/delaware-supreme-court-upholds-life-sentence-in-2017-bear-murder/
