Two Cohorts Of Man Convicted Of 3 Murders Sentenced To Life

Two cohorts of a man convicted of three murders were each sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole.

Pete Trejo Jr., 32, was convicted of first-degree murder for the Nov. 5, 2009, strangulation of Lorraine Minjarez of Covina, and  Andrew Valenzuela, 24, was convicted of first-degree murder for the Nov. 6, 2009, bludgeoning death of David Padilla of El Monte.

Authorities say Trejo and Valenzuela were accomplices of Robert Louis Caballero, who was convicted of both killings, along with the Sept. 29, 2009, shooting death of Armando Vidana of Pomona.

The three defendants were tried together.

Jurors recommended Sept. 16 that Caballero, 37, be sentenced to death for his crimes. He is set to be formally sentenced Nov. 13.

During closing arguments in the penalty phase of Caballero’s trial, Deputy District Attorney Sarika Kim reminded jurors of the gruesome nature of Caballero’s crimes, noting that he made Minjarez “sit and listen as her grave was being dug.”

The 32-year-old woman’s body was found in the Angeles National Forest along Mount Baldy Road. The prosecutor told jurors during the trial that Caballero had lured Minjarez to a car in a “cold and callous way,” gathered what he needed to kill her, forced her to hike to her gravesite, tightened a rope around her neck as she struggled to breathe and then directed Trejo to bury her body.

Caballero’s cousin, Padilla, was bludgeoned and strangled and was found near the Union Pacific railroad tracks near Walnut Avenue in Chino. The prosecution alleged that Caballero ordered Valenzuela to strangle Padilla because he had decided he didn’t trust the 29-year-old man any longer.

Caballero was arrested in November 2009 after a police chase that ended in a crash in Montclair.

At the time, authorities said Caballero was wanted on a warrant stemming from the killing of Vidana, a gang rival who was shot to death.

—City News Service