A 38-year-old Anaheim man beat and strangled his girlfriend despite a restraining order, after she picked him up from a bar in Orange, where he was knocked out in a fistfight, a prosecutor told jurors Tuesday.
Aaron Romo is charged with murder, false imprisonment and domestic violence, all felonies, as well as a misdemeanor count of resisting arrest. He faces sentencing enhancement for committing a crime while out of custody on bail for a separate crime.
Romo is accused of beating 24-year-old Mirelle Mateus of La Palma on Dec. 5, 2022, and then killing her on March 17, 2023.
The two met in May 2022 and it was “a fast romance,” Senior Deputy District Mark Birney said. The defendant met her through Jerit Wohlford, who briefly dated her first but was Romo’s friend, Birney said. Romo and Mateus were a “better fit,” and within a month of their dating Mirelle moved in with him, Birney said.
Romo lived in a “luxury apartment” at 1901 Union St. and the two posted photos of themselves as a couple traveling to Hawaii and elsewhere, Birney said.
“From outward appearances they were a very happy couple,” Birney said. “But behind closed doors it was much different.”
Romo was a “possessive, angry” man, Birney said.
The prosecutor showed photos Romo posted on social media of him working out in a gym to illustrate he was a “big, strong guy,” the prosecutor said.
On Dec. 5, 2022, the two got into a conflict and “much of the physical violence took place in the bedroom,” Birney said.
The victim called her sister, Sandy, to come pick her up, Birney said.
The prosecutor showed a photo of the victim in the backseat of a police car with a bruised shin. The injury occurred when she was “thrown over a guardrail” of the apartment’s balcony, Birney said.
Police attempted to arrest Romo, but he refused to come out of his apartment and the officers backed off because they were concerned he may be armed, Birney said. The defendant had a gun safe in his apartment, he said.
Romo was charged with domestic violence and pleaded not guilty, and on the next day, Dec. 14, 2022, police were back at his apartment as he deliberately cut his arms and he was taken to a hospital, Birney alleged.
Despite a restraining order prohibiting Romo from contacting the victim, the two remained in contact but the relationship was up and down, Birney said.
Wohlford convinced Romo on March 16 of last year to go out and “get over” his relationship with Mateus, Birney said. The two went to a bar in Orange where Romo was “aggressively pursing a woman” who was “not very receptive,” Birney said.
At one point, the frustrated Romo told her that he “doesn’t date strippers,” prompting her to slap him, Birney said.
The group got kicked out of the bar and while outside of the business the woman “takes another shot at him,” and “he starts going after her,” Birney said.
The bar security “got involved and held him back,” Birney said. Romo got into a fistfight, got knocked out and later had two black eyes, Birney said.
Romo’s friend called for an Uber while the two looked for Romo’s missing phone, Birney said. When the driver arrived, Romo used the Uber employee’s phone to repeatedly call Mateus until she picked up, the prosecutor added.
At about 2:15 a.m., she picked him up and drove him back to his apartment, Birney said. Wohlford, meanwhile, stayed with the Uber and also went back to the apartment to pick up his car.
A security guard at the apartment complex dialed 911 after he saw the couple squabbling and then heard her screaming for help from his apartment, Birney said. The guard told the dispatcher the license plate for the car and she made the connection to Romo and Mateus, Birney said.
The security guard implored police to hurry because her voice was “going in and out” and then was quiet, Birney said.
When officers arrived, the defendant did not respond despite “banging on his door,” Birney said.
“For five minutes they bang on that door,” Birney said.
The officers were unclear if the restraining order was still in place, so “They left … and that’s unfortunate,” Birney said.
A record from the FOB that opens the door showed it unlocked and locked multiple times between 2:23 a.m. and 2:43 a.m., Birney said.
Wohlford sat in his car for a couple hours because he had been drinking and waited to sober up some before he went on his way, Birney said.
The prosecutor said jurors will hear evidence of the defendant’s DNA under the victim’s fingernails to show the two were in a violent struggle as she fought for her life.
Romo left in his motorcycle just before 4:50 a.m. and rode it to the home of his other girlfriend, Stephanie Rodriguez in Temecula, Birney said.
Because he still did not have his phone he tossed pebbles at her window to get her attention to let him in, Birney said. The two showered together and later he began cutting his arm as he had done before, prompting her to call for help from Riverside County sheriff’s deputies, Birney said.
Romo barricaded himself in a bedroom, which led deputies to leave in an effort to de-escalate the situation, Birney said.
The victim’s mother, Alice, grew worried about her daughter when he did not respond to phone calls or text messages and she could not find out where she was from her friends, Birney said. Eventually, Alice Mateus looked up her daughter’s phone use log and called Wohlford, who recounted what had happened the night before, Birney said.
Alice Mateus went to the defendant’s apartment and saw the door was open, but she did not find her daughter, so she called police, Birney said. They told her to not go inside the apartment again, but she did and then found her daughter’s body in the bath tub, Birney said.
When officers arrived they called Romo’s friend, who told them Romo was in Temecula, Birney said.
Riverside deputies went back to Rodriguez’s home and contacted Romo while the girlfriend made a statement to investigators.
“He told me he killed her,” she told an investigator, according to Birney. After asking her to not record him, he said he strangled the victim for a minute and tried to revive her, Birney said.
Romo was taken to a hospital to be treated for the lacerations to his arms. Police found “clumps of hair” at the crime scene as well as scrawlings on a wall and mirror at his home, Birney said.
In one message he allegedly wrote, “I didn’t want this. I love you. I want to die. Please,” according to Birney.
He also wrote “sorry” to his daughter from a previous marriage, but misspelled her name, Birney said.
Romo’s attorney, Ricardo Nicol, deferred an opening statement until later in the trial.