Fontana Man Convicted in 2010 Killing of Girlfriend

FONTANA – A San Bernardino County jury convicted a 21-year-old man of killing his teenage girlfriend in 2010, but acquitted him in the death of an unborn baby she was supposedly carrying.

Jesus Francisco Avitia, Jr.

Jesus Francisco Avitia, Jr., 21, of Fontana, was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter. Anyssia Escamilla, then 17, was strangled to death by Avitia, according to the jury’s findings on Monday. The DA was seeking a first-degree murder conviction in Escamilla’s death and a second-degree murder conviction for her baby, but the jury nevertheless reduced its finding to voluntary manslaughter on the 17-year-old girl. The trial took two weeks.

Escamilla, who came up missing in May 2010, was the focus of an 11-week search that included major searches at two landfills in hopes of finding her remains. Investigators determined that Escamilla was killed on May 11, 2010, but her body wasn’t discovered until August that same year.

During testimony, Avitia claimed that he became enraged when Escamilla told him that the baby was not his, and that she would end the pregnancy, leave him and begin dating others. Avitia claimed Escamilla started hitting him first.

Avitia was arrested less than 10 days after Escamilla’s disappearance, even before her body was discovered,. Police were eventually led to landfills because Avitia told them he had disposed of her body in a trash can near his Fontana home. But the trash can had already been collected, which led investigators on a search that took nearly three months before her body was discovered. Escamilla’s remains were eventually found at the El Sobrante landfill in Corona, a city located in neighboring Riverside County.

Anyssia Escamilla in two tribute photos posted by her friends on Myspace

The jury did not convict Avitia on killing the baby, according to reports, because there was insufficient evidence to support Escamilla’s pregnancy.

The judge, Steve Mapes, ordered Avitia to return on July 18 for sentencing. He could face a sentence of either three, six or 11 years. The maximum sentence could have been 25 years to life if he had been convicted of first degree murder.

Read More:

Press Enterprise: Man convicted in death of girlfriend, acquitted for unborn baby

The Sun (2010): Boyfriend pleads not guilty to killing Bloomington teen, unborn child

LA Times: (2010) Remains of missing pregnant teen found in Riverside County landfill