| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: May 14, 2021 |
PRESS RELEASE Kimberly Edds Public Information Officer Office: 714-347-8405, Cell: 714-504-1917 |
Former Boyfriend Convicted of Beating, Strangling Huntington Beach Woman to Death
SANTA ANA, Calif. – A man has been convicted of first-degree special circumstances murder for the beating and strangling death of his ex-girlfriend. The woman had a restraining order against him at the time.
Jason Joseph Becher, 46, of Anaheim, was convicted of one felony count of first-degree murder in the December 2, 2016 death of 50-year-old Marylou Sarkissian, a mother of three, in her Huntington Beach home. The jury also found the special circumstances of lying in wait to be true.
Becher is scheduled to be sentenced on June 11, 2021 in Department C-35 at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana. He faces a maximum sentence of life without the possibility of parole.
Late the night of Dec. 1, 2016, Becher went to Sarkissian’s home in Huntington Beach after he had gone out for drinks with an acquaintance. Becher beat and strangled Sarkissian to death before leaving the home.
That afternoon an individual contacted the Huntington Beach Police Department (HBPD) to request a welfare check on Sarkissian. Huntington Beach police found Sarkissian dead inside her home.
Becher was arrested the next day by the Grants Pass Department of Public Safety in Grants Pass, Oregon.
“The facts in this case were so clear it took a jury less than a day to return a guilty verdict and hold a cold-blooded, calculating murderer accountable,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “The pain of losing Marylou will never go away, but her loved ones now know that justice was served.”
Senior Deputy District Attorney Janine Madera is prosecuting this case.
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