A jury in Wisconsin has convicted a teenager in the death of his uncle following a violent altercation that began over a household disagreement, according to court records.
Ronnie Fuentez was found guilty of felony murder caused by battery and misdemeanor bail jumping in the killing of 46-year-old Adam Thompson. The verdict was returned Thursday in Waukesha County, bringing a closely watched criminal case to a conclusion ahead of sentencing scheduled for April.
Prosecutors said the fatal chain of events began late on Feb. 1, 2025, inside a shared apartment on Delafield Street in Waukesha, a city west of Milwaukee. Fuentez, then 17, had lived with Thompson for roughly four years.
Investigators described a dispute that escalated around 10 p.m. after Thompson refused to allow Fuentez’s friend to stay overnight. According to the criminal complaint, Thompson told authorities the disagreement intensified when he said “he did not allow” the sleepover, which “caused the defendant to get upset.”
Thompson reported that Fuentez struck him repeatedly, telling police that the teen “then punched him in the head area with a closed fist.” Thompson responded by hitting Fuentez once “in self-defense,” the complaint stated, before attempting to shield himself as the attack continued.
During the confrontation, Thompson told investigators that Fuentez yelled insults, including, “p— boy” and “I’ve wanted to f— you up since the first day I moved in.”
Fuentez left the apartment after the incident and did not return until the following morning. Authorities have not clarified where the friend was at the time.
Thompson did not immediately contact police and initially believed he had avoided serious injury. However, two days later he developed a severe migraine that persisted despite medication. On Feb. 5, while speaking by phone with his mother, his condition worsened.
“While talking on the phone, [Thompson] began to struggle with speaking in complete sentences,” the complaint noted. Concerned he might be suffering a stroke, Thompson’s mother drove him to Waukesha Memorial Hospital, where medical staff diagnosed an internal brain bleed.
Although Thompson was hospitalized in intensive care and experienced difficulty forming sentences, he was able to describe the assault to responding officers. Police said he reported being punched multiple times in the head.
The case initially proceeded as a battery investigation. After Thompson died on Feb. 17, prosecutors upgraded the charge to murder, a development first detailed by Law&Crime. Court filings also indicated Fuentez was out on bond for an unrelated offense at the time of the attack.
Thompson’s obituary remembered him as “an avid gamer, a reptile enthusiast, having many reptiles in his home, loved his dog ‘Boy’ and most of all loved his family enjoying every family gathering.”
Fuentez is scheduled to be sentenced on April 27.
