CA CA - Jeanette Gomez Espeleta, 20, pregnant, Santa Ana, 17 July 1998 *convictions overturned*

SheWhoMustNotBeNamed

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Jeanette Gomez Espeleta

Endangered Missing

Missing From: Fullerton, California

Missing Since: July 17, 1998

Age: 20 -- Height: 5'4" -- Weight: 130 lbs -- Hair Color: Brown -- Eye Color: Brown

Jeanette's name may be spelled Janette. She has scars above her right eye and on her forehead. She has breast implants.


Jeanette was last seen July 17, 1998 in Fullerton, California when she left work at a Santa Ana bank. She was about to move in with her Moreno Valley family when she disappeared. Friends said Jeanette, who attended Valley View High School in Moreno Valley, always kept in touch with family and friends and was a creature of habit who worked, hung out with her friends at the gym, and spent nearly every weekend with her family in Moreno Valley.

Foul play is suspected. Police believe that Jeanette was kidnapped on July 17 between 2:00 and 7:00 pm. They think she was then shot to death and her body was kept overnight at an undisclosed location. The next day, the body was wrapped in chains or a rope. The body was placed on a boat rented from a company in Irvine and towed to Long Beach. Jeanette's 1996 silver Honda was driven near Rosarito Beach, Mexico, and set on fire. The father of her unborn child was arrested as a suspect in the case, together with 2 other men.


Doe Network

Charley Project

NamUs
 
From July 1998:

http://articles.latimes.com/1998/jul/29/local/me-8190

Police believe Richard Tovar, 21, of Anaheim, was the father of Espeleta's child... The two other suspects are believed to be Tovar's acquaintances, and were identified by police as Henry Joseph Rodriguez, 22, of Anaheim and Nicholas Jeffrey Gray, 20, of Fullerton...

Espeleta, who worked as a bank employee, was last seen leaving the 24 Hour Fitness gym in Anaheim on July 17 about 4 p.m... Police believe the woman met up with the suspects some time in the afternoon of July 17 near the MainPlace mall in Santa Ana and was kidnapped, Stanko said.

Within 24 hours, the kidnappers then wrapped her body, weighed it down and dumped it from a boat near an oil platform in the early evening, he said. They also believe it was Tovar who shot Espeleta.

From September 2000:

http://articles.latimes.com/2000/sep/26/local/me-26838

An Anaheim man accused of killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend to avoid paying child support, then dumping her body off the coast, was found guilty Monday--although the victim's body hasn't been recovered.

Richard Tovar, 23, faces life in prison for the murders of 20-year-old Jeannette Gomez Espeleta, a Fullerton bank teller, and the eight-month fetus she was carrying when she disappeared in 1998...

Tovar's accomplices also face murder charges: Gray, 22, is expected to plead guilty to manslaughter charges later this year. In July, a jury returned a murder conviction against Rodriguez, 24..

More recently:

http://orangecountyda.org/civica/press/display.asp?layout=2&Entry=4701

Henry Rodriguez, 39, Anaheim, was twice found guilty of murdering the pregnant girlfriend and unborn child of his friend, Richard Tovar, and in his second trial was sentenced to 40 years to life in state prison...

Today, Feb. 25, 2016, the Honorable Thomas M. Goethals ruled that the previously-sealed inmate records had been wrongfully withheld from the defendant at the time of trial, and therefore the court granted Rodriguez’s writ for habeas corpus and overturned the conviction, which makes the defendant eligible for a new trial.

Currently:

http://abc7.com/news/bail-cut-in-half-for-man-awaiting-trial-in-fullerton-double-homicide/1327926/

An Orange County judge cut bail in half on Friday for a man awaiting a new trial in the murder of a woman and her unborn child.

Henry Rodriguez has been in custody since 1998 for the double murder of Jeanette Espeleta and her baby in Fullerton.
 
Jeanette Gomez Espeleta – The Charley Project

Jeanette Gomez Espeleta
  • espeleta_jeanette.jpg
Espeleta, circa 1998

  • Missing Since07/17/1998
  • Missing FromFullerton, California
  • ClassificationEndangered Missing
  • Date of Birth11/12/1977 (41)
  • Age20 years old
  • Height and Weight5'4, 130 - 150 pounds
  • Medical ConditionsEspeleta was eight months pregnant with a girl at the time of her July 1998 disappearance. Her due date was sometime in August 1998.
  • Distinguishing CharacteristicsAsian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Espeleta has scars above her right eye and on her forehead, pierced ears and a tattoo on her ankle. She has breast implants, which feature unique serial numbers. Her name may be spelled "Janette." Espeleta is of Filipino descent.
Details of Disappearance
Espeleta was last seen leaving work at the Bank of America branch in Fullerton, California on July 17, 1998. (Some agencies may state that the branch was located in Santa Ana, California). She apparently told her co-workers that she planned to head directly home afterwards. Some media reports state that Espeleta disappeared after visiting a fitness club in Anaheim, California before returning to her family's residence in the Moreno Valley.

Espeleta was driving a silver two-door Honda Accord with the California license plate number 3SLD082 at the time of her disappearance. She never arrived home as scheduled and has not been heard from again.

Authorities believe that Espeleta was abducted and died of multiple gunshot wounds on the day of her disappearance. They think her vehicle was burned and abandoned by her murderers somewhere in the Baja, California canyons, and her remains were taken about a mile off the Long Beach, California shoreline, wrapped in a tarp and chains, weighted down, and dumped in the ocean.

Espeleta's family members told investigators that it was very uncharacteristic of her to leave without warning and not contact anyone. She had all phone calls transferred to her pager if she was not at her residence.

Espeleta was preparing to move back into her family's residence in July 1998. She was excited about giving birth to her child, whom ultrasound determined was a girl. Espeleta planned to name the baby Alyssa Kaitana. Her relatives said she was looking forward to becoming a single mother. She planned a baby shower and asked her mother to prepare Philippine pancit noodles for the event.

Authorities suspected Richard Tovar, an Anaheim, California resident, Espeleta's former boyfriend and reported father of her unborn child, was involved in her disappearance. Espeleta's sister said that she had filed paternity suit papers against Tovar prior to her disappearance. He reportedly refused to acknowledge the unborn child was his daughter.

Authorities believed that Tovar was angered as a result of the impending suit and intended to murder his former girlfriend and her fetus to avoid having to make child support payments. Espeleta told her loved ones that Tovar would not be pleased with the support suit. She wrote a letter to him in early July 1998 and requested that he leave her and her baby alone, calling him an "irresponsible coward."

Tovar was arrested and charged with plotting and executing Espeleta's presumed abduction and homicide on July 28, 1998, eleven days after she disappeared. His friend, Henry Joseph Rodriguez, was charged as his accomplice.

Tovar attempted to assist investigators locate Espeleta's remains in the Pacific Ocean after his arrest. Searches extended from the waters near Long Beach to Mexico, but no evidence was located.

A mistrial was declared in Tovar's case in August 2000, more than two years after Espeleta disappeared. A key prosecution witness refused to testify during the trial. Tovar was eventually convicted of Espeleta's homicide in September 2000 and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Rodriguez was convicted in 2000 and sentenced to 40 years to life in prison, but his conviction was overturned in 2003. He was convicted again at his second trial. However, in February 2016, his conviction was overturned a second time and a third trial was ordered.

Espeleta's body has never been recovered, but foul play is suspected due to the circumstances involved.
 

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