| For Immediate Release Case # TBA June 20, 2011 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
MAN TO BE ARRAIGNED FOR SHOOTING-MURDER OF ESTRANGED WIFE AFTER WAITING AND FOLLOWING HER FROM WORK
SANTA ANA – A man will be arraigned today for murdering his estranged wife by shooting her nine times in the chest after waiting and following her from work. John Rand Agosta, 35, Anaheim, is charged with one felony count of special circumstances murder by lying in wait with a sentencing enhancement for the personal discharge of a firearm causing death. If convicted, he faces a minimum sentence of life in state prison without the possibility of parole. Agosta is being held without bail and is expected to be arraigned this afternoon, Monday, June 20, 2011, in Department CJ-1, Central Jail, Santa Ana.
At approximately 2:00 p.m. on June 16, 2011, Agosta is accused of waiting outside of his estranged wife’s work in his Ford Mustang, armed with a firearm. The 28-year-old victim, Alejandra Hernandez, worked at a day care in the Turtle Rock area in Irvine.
When Hernandez left work lunch and began to drive away, Agosta is accused of following her in his car. Approximately half a mile from her work, Hernandez stopped her car in a cul-de-sac and got out. Agosta is accused of murdering the victim by shooting her nine times in the chest. He is accused of getting back into his vehicle, but was unable to start the engine. Agosta is accused of then getting out of his car, going back to the victim’s body, and kicking her one time before fleeing the scene on foot. The Ford Mustang, which is registered to the defendant, was left at the scene.
The Irvine Police Department (IPD), who investigated this case, responded to the scene after receiving calls regarding shots being fired and found the victim. Hernandez was pronounced dead at the scene.
Agosta is accused of calling a friend, who did not know what the defendant had done, and asking the friend to pick him up. Agosta is accused of going to his friend’s Mission Viejo home, where he was arrested by IPD at 4:30 p.m.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Steve McGreevy of the Homicide Unit is prosecuting this case.
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