| For Immediate Release Case # 05NF2705 February 14, 2008 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
BOYFRIEND CONVICTED OF TORTURING AND MURDERING LIVE-IN GIRLFRIEND BY
CUTTING OUT HER TONGUE
SANTA ANA – A La Palma man was convicted today of murdering his live-in girlfriend, Patricia Dunthorne, after torturing her by cutting off her tongue. Frank Robert Mallory, 50, was found guilty of murder with a sentencing enhancement for murder with torture. He faces a maximum sentence of life without the possibility of parole at his sentencing on April 11, 2008 in Department C-43, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.
Between June 25, 2005 and July 15, 2005, Mallory tortured and murdered his girlfriend by cutting off her tongue and leaving her to bleed to death on the bed. He hid her dead body in his garage under a blanket and left her there for weeks. The defendant told neighbors that his girlfriend had gone on a trip to Utah. Police officers received a call on July 16, 2005 from Mallory’s brother, who had gone to the house and noticed an odor coming from the garage, reporting the dead body.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Larry Yellin of the Homicide Unit is prosecuting this case.
###