| For Immediate Release Case # 12ZF0155 January 31, 2014 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami
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MAN SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON WITHOUT PAROLE FOR ROBBERY AND STABBING-MURDER OF 67-YEAR-OLD MAN
*Defendant was also wanted for attempted murder in Santa Cruz County
SANTA ANA – A man was sentenced today to life in state prison without the possibility of parole for the special circumstances stabbing-murder of a 67-year-old man following a robbery on the 4th of July. Felipe Jesus Delgado, 23, Anaheim, was convicted by a jury Dec. 12, 2013, of one felony count of special circumstances murder for murder during the commission of a robbery and one felony count of robbery.
At the time of his arrest, Delgado had a warrant for his arrest in Santa Cruz County for attempted murder.
On the night of July 4, 2012, Delgado approached 67-year-old Daniel Rowlett outside of a business on Olive Street in Anaheim. Delgado robbed the victim of his wallet and then stabbed him over a dozen times in the legs and chest before he fled the scene on foot.
At approximately 10:45 p.m., the Anaheim Police Department (APD), who investigated this case, responded to the scene after receiving a call regarding a possible traffic accident. Rowlett was found by officers bleeding in the driver’s seat of his truck and was transported to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Delgado left a trail of blood from the crime scene to his home on Julianna Street in Anaheim, which APD officers followed to locate him. When contacted at the home by officers, Delgado was wearing bloody socks, had bloody clothes on the bedroom floor, and had a fresh cut on his hand. He was also in possession of the victim’s wallet and the murder weapon, a folding knife, which was hidden between the mattress and box spring of his bed.
At the sentencing today, the victim’s wife Sharon Rowlett and daughter, Stephanie Wasinger, gave impact statements to the court. Sharon Rowlett said that she met her husband in the 7th grade and that they had been together for almost 60 years. She described Daniel Rowlett as a man who dedicated his entire life to his family. Stephanie Wasinger said that her father was the provider and glue that held their family together.