| For Immediate Release Case # 08WF2161 March 22, 2011 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
MAN FACES TRIAL FOR STABBING AND MURDERING WIFE IN HUNTINGTON BEACH MOTEL
*Couple’s 17-year-old daughter discovered the victim’s body
SANTA ANA – A husband faces trial tomorrow for murdering his estranged wife by stabbing her to death in a Huntington Beach motel room and leaving the body, which was found by his 17-year-old daughter. Fidelio Marin, 40, Huntington Beach, is charged with one felony count of murder and a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a deadly weapon. He faces a maximum sentence of 26 years to life in prison if convicted. Opening statements are expected to begin tomorrow morning, Wednesday, March 23, 2011, in Department C-39, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.
On the afternoon of Oct. 10, 2008, Marin is accused of calling his wife, 32-year-old Felix Mendez, and asking her to meet him at the Starlight Motel on Beach Boulevard in Huntington Beach. The defendant had been staying in the motel because his wife had told him that she wanted a divorce.
The victim went to meet Marin at the motel with one of their four children, their 17-year-old daughter, and stayed with the defendant after their daughter had left. Once they were alone, Marin is accused of stabbing Mendez repeatedly in the neck. He is accused of murdering the victim in the motel room and leaving her body on the floor in the bathroom.
At approximately 4:00 p.m., after several failed attempts to reach her mother and father by phone, the victim’s 17-year-old daughter drove back to the motel to check on her mother. When the daughter was unable to open the motel room door, she opened the adjacent window and climbed into the motel room, where she discovered her dead mother in a pool of blood.
Mendez’ daughter called 911. At approximately 7:00 p.m., police officers located Marin on an Orange County Transit Authority bus in the Huntington Beach area.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Scott Simmons of the Homicide Unit is prosecuting this case.
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