‘I panicked, freaked out’: Accused killer says he beat East York mom with crowbar, but didn’t rape her
''Warning: This story contains graphic content that some readers may find disturbing.
Yostin Murillo’s voice became shaky as he described in detail how he repeatedly hit 41-year-old mother Rhoderie Estrada with a crowbar inside her East York bedroom three years ago.
Testifying before a downtown Toronto jury Tuesday, Murillo described how he and his co-accused David Beak had been drinking and doing drugs earlier that May night before they broke into Estrada’s house on Torrens Avenue. There was no car in the driveway and the lights were off except for a basement window, so the pair figured no one was home and they could “steal” some property, Murillo said.
He said used a crowbar he had picked up from the garage to break through a door and get inside. In the living room, he found a laptop and two purses, which he stole. Upstairs, he found an iPhone beside one bed, which he took, noticing a child was fast asleep in the top bunk.
In the master bedroom, Murillo said found a sleeping woman and another phone beside the bed. He testified he pocketed that too, then moved to grab a jar of change when he heard a voice say: “Oh, no.”
“I panicked, freaked out,” Murillo told the jury, saying that’s when he picked up the crowbar and struck Estrada.
“She was making a really bad noise,” he said, describing striking her “three or more” times again until she stopped screaming.
Murillo and Beak, both men in their 20s, are facing charges of first-degree murder and sexual assault in Estrada’s death. They have pleaded not guilty.''
