Christina Marie Munoz Gets 16 Years to Life for Murdering Her 84-year-old Great-Grandma


Killing your mom is bad, your grandmother is worse and your great-grandmother . . . jeez, are you sick or something? Christina Marie Munoz, 29, of Garden Grove, was sentenced today to 16 years to life in state prison for murdering her great-grandmother by
stabbing the 84-year-old five times in the neck as she sat helpless in her
wheelchair.

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Great-grammy was suffering from dementia and caring for her was taxing the family, but still . . . Stabbing her in the neck five times with a kitchen knife? Christ, sending her to the Soylent Green plant would be more humane than that.

The Orange County District Attorney's Office statement on
the conviction follows:

May 21, 2010

 WOMAN SENTENCED TO 16 YEARS TO LIFE FOR MURDERING 84-YEAR-OLD GREAT
GRANDMOTHER WITH DEMENTIA BY STABBING HER FIVE TIMES IN THE NECK

SANTA ANA – A woman was sentenced today to 16 years to life in state
prison for murdering her 84-year-old great grandmother by stabbing the
victim five times in the neck as she sat helpless in her wheelchair.
Christina Marie Munoz, 29, Garden Grove, was found guilty in a court
trial before the Honorable

Richard Toohey Jan. 29, 2010, of one felony
count of second degree murder. The sentencing enhancement for the
personal use of a deadly weapon was found true. The defendant withdrew
her plea of “not guilty by reason of insanity,” and the sanity phase of
the trial was canceled.

At approximately 11 a.m. on July 1, 2004, Munoz went to the Garden
Grove home of her 84-year-old great grandmother,

Lillian Patburg.
Munoz's parents were Patburg's live-in caretakers, as she suffered from
dementia and other illnesses, and Munoz went to help take care of the
victim while her parents went to the dentist. While alone with her great
grandmother, Munoz took a steak knife from the kitchen and stabbed the
victim five times in the neck, murdering her in her wheelchair.

At approximately 2 p.m. officers from the Garden Grove Police
Department (GGPD) responded to a call from the victim's residence. Munoz
was standing in the front yard when officers arrived, screaming that
someone had broken into the home while she was sleeping and killed her
great grandmother. Officers found the victim inside the home, slumped
over in her wheelchair, and paramedics were unable to resuscitate her. 

Munoz went to the GGPD station to provide a voluntary interview. During
the course of her interview, Munoz repeatedly changed her story. She
first stated that the victim was murdered by a stranger who broke into
the home. Munoz then claimed that she hid the knife in the garage
because she panicked after watching her great grandmother commit
suicide. The defendant eventually told officers that she had murdered
the victim because her family was struggling to care for her as a result
of her dementia.

Senior Deputy District Attorney
Steve McGreevy of the Homicide Unit is
prosecuting this case.

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