A man was recently convicted in Orange County for the murder of a woman whose body was discovered in a parked vehicle in October of 2020.
In a press release, the Santa Ana Police Department announced that Jose Valdez Jimenez, 58, has been convicted of second-degree murder in connection with the death of 57-year-old Natalia Gamino James.
James was reported missing from the Lake Forest area on October 22, 2020. Four days later, officers discovered her body in a parked vehicle on the 600 block of West Russell Street in Santa Ana.
The Orange County Coroner’s Office ruled James’s death a homicide.
Despite serving multiple search warrants and attempting to locate Jimenez, authorities were unable to make an arrest because Jimenez had fled the country.
Police say that, in January of 2021, Jimenez confessed to strangling James to death during a recorded telephone conversation with a detective. Jimenez also allegedly admitted to driving her body to the city of Santa Ana and leaving her in a parked vehicle.
U.S. authorities then began coordinating with Mexican authorities to begin the process of extradition.
On May 26, 2021, Jimenez reportedly phoned detectives again and said he was at the Mexico border, prepared to turn himself in. Authorities took him into custody without incident on suspicion of murder.
On May 15 of this year, Jimenez was convicted of second-degree murder in Orange County Superior Court. He is due to be sentenced at a future court hearing.
