A Pomona man pleaded no contest Monday to murdering his 35- year-old girlfriend, whose right lung was cut from her body while she was still alive.
Alexander Anthony Clever, 28, also admitted special circumstance allegations that he committed mayhem and torture while killing Yvette Silva.
In exchange for his plea to first-degree murder, Clever will be sentenced on Sept. 19 to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
On Nov. 29, 2014, Clever, Silva and two other people went to a Motel 6 at 2470 S. Garey Avenue in Pomona.
Clever and Silva went into a bathroom where they could be heard arguing. When their companions heard muffled screaming, they opened the door and saw Silva unconscious and in a chokehold by Clever, according to prosecutors.
They tried to free her and then went for help.
Police found Silva in the shower with her heart and her right lung removed from her body. Prosecutors said the woman, the mother of a then-12-year- old son, was still alive when her lung was cut out.
Clever was arrested two days later with a knife that had the victim’s DNA on it as he rode his bicycle away from his parents’ home in the Phillips Ranch community of Pomona, authorities said.
Authorities said Clever, who had previous convictions for assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a firearm by a felon and carrying a dirk or dagger, had recently been released from prison and was on community supervision at the time of the murder.
—City News Service