A 29-year-old woman was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for orchestrating the fatal shooting of a friend in Fountain Valley because she suspected the victim of leaking her hiding place from an ex-boyfriend, according to court records obtained Friday.
Mary Diedra Chavez was convicted June 9 of first-degree murder with special circumstances of lying in wait for the victim and conspiracy to commit murder. Co-defendant Oliver Reynaldo Leon, who is facing the death penalty, is set to go on trial separately.
Chavez was also sentenced Thursday to 25 years to life in prison. She had 1,472 days credit behind bars.
“It is clear from a review of her criminal history, her conduct in the jail, and her gang contacts, that the defendant is a lifelong criminal gangster involved in theft, drugs sales and murder,” Deputy District Attorney Nick Thomo said in a sentencing brief.
“She began committing crimes in 2017 and has continually committed crimes since her arrest,” Thomo said. “Her criminal conduct continues even after her arrest while in the jail. … After reviewing the body of evidence in this case, it is clear that (Chavez) had no remorse for her conduct. Shortly after the murder of (the victim), (Chavez) was in jail calls laughing, joking about the murder. She was feigning ignorance about who the victim was. There was not a shred of evidence that defendant was sorry for her behavior.”
Thomo said Chavez was “the mastermind of this execution.”
Chavez, known as Mumbles, had prior convictions for drug dealing and forging currency and was on probation when she was accused of “masterminding” the July 19, 2021 execution-style killing of 26-year-old Phia Marie Albanese, Thomo said in court papers.
In July of 2021, Chavez was “dating” Gustavo Alvarezmoreno, whose nickname was Clumsy, while he was in prison for carjacking, Thomo said. Previously, she had been dating “J.J.” and was the getaway driver in an attack on her ex-boyfriend.
When J.J. survived the attack, she feared retaliation and began “bouncing around from AirBnB to AirBnB to hide from J.J.,” Thomo said in his opening statement of the trial.
Her friend, Albanese, was also dating someone behind bars, so the two agreed to hang out, Thomo said.
“Guess who shows up at her door? J.J.,” Thomo said.
Chavez figured Albanese told J.J. where to find the defendant, Thomo said.
“Consumed by her rage over a friend’s betrayal,” she “invited” Leon and other associates to get together for a meeting to plan revenge, Thomo said.
“They all decided Phia has to die,” Thomo said.
Police were called at 6:11 p.m. July 19, 2021, to 10372 Amberwood Circle regarding a traffic collision and found the victim’s body in a Volkswagen Jetta, which was still in drive and on a front lawn, Thomo said. She was still buckled in the driver’s seat and sustained three gunshot wounds to the back of her head and one to her left hand, Thomo said.
A receipt for the Residence Inn in Tustin was found in the vehicle. When police went to the room Albanese had rented, they spoke with Lisa Bergstrom, who said Albanese received a call claiming someone was vandalizing her car, Thomo said.
The prosecutor said this was part of the plan to “lure” the victim out of the hotel to kill her.
When the two went out to check the Jetta, Chavez drove up in a Mercedes-Benz with Leon and another man, Thomo said.
Albanese left with Chavez and the others, Thomo said.
Video surveillance from the hotel showed the Mercedes entering the parking lot at 4:44 p.m. the day of the killing, Thomo said. Albanese’s vehicle left the hotel at 5:40 p.m. with Chavez in the front passenger seat, while one of her friends trailed in Chavez’s Mercedes.
“This is not a whodunnit,” Thomo said. “The shooter is Mr. Leon. The mastermind is the defendant.”
Chavez drove her friends back to Los Angeles and dropped them off after the fatal shooting, Thomo said.
Some of the evidence in the case came from jailhouse phone calls, Thomo said. Chavez and her boyfriend discussed the hit on the victim.
Leon “is the guy you bring around when you want someone killed,” Thomo said.
After the shooting, Chavez called her boyfriend in jail and “tried to be a sophisticated crook,” feigning surprise at Albanese’s killing, Thomo said.
“She pretends like she didn’t know what happened to Phia,” Thomo said.
“She tries to set up her alibi, but (her boyfriend) doesn’t catch on,” so she changes the subject, Thomo said.
Leon is “a killer with a smile. … Those are his words, not mine,” Thomo said.
At one point in a jailhouse call, Leon expressed disappointment that his photo wasn’t included in a newspaper account of the killing and referred to himself as a killer with a smile,” Thomo said.
Chavez’s attorney, Jessica Ann Sweeney of the Orange County Public Defender’s Office, said Leon “went rogue,” and said the “situation was out of Mary’s control.”