People v. Pantoja CA1/4

I. BACKGROUND

A. The Killing Defendant and the victim, Adriana Ortiz Pantoja, were married to each other, and divorced in late 2007. They had lived separately since 2004. Their daughter, Nancy, lived with Adriana in Suisun during that time, and defendant lived in Fairfield.1 Under the terms of the divorce, Adriana would be awarded the house and she would refinance it

1 Because defendant, his former wife, and his daughter shared a last name, we shall refer to Adriana and Nancy by their first names. We intend no disrespect.

1 to give defendant his share of the house’s value, and Adriana would have custody of Nancy. In December 2007, Nancy was spending the winter break with the pastors of the church she and Adriana attended, Monica and Arturo Sanchez. The day before Nancy was supposed to return to Suisun, Adriana was not in church, as she usually was on Sundays. Nancy tried unsuccessfully to contact her that day. The following morning, January 7, 2008, Nancy went with the Sanchezes to the house she shared with Adriana. The front door was locked. They opened the door and saw bloodstains on the living room carpet. Arturo Sanchez followed the stains toward the bathroom, went into…