Meant to post this yesterday, but there has been a conviction in a case then-Weekly web editor Janine Kahn previewed in June 2007.
Guillermo Rodriguez, 43, of Fullerton, was found guilty by a jury of murdering his neighbor Donna Dutton, also 43 and a multiple sclerosis sufferer, who Rodriguez had caught in bed with his then 18-year-old son, beat and strangled to death and whose body the father and son dumped in a
remote area of in the high desert town of Victorville.
Rodriguez may have escaped prosecution were it not for the woman he married after the slaying.
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The following Orange County District Attorney's statement on the conviction lays out the case and references the previous conviction of Rodriguez's son:
October 18, 2010
FULLERTON MAN CONVICTED OF MURDERING 43-YEAR-OLD NEIGHBOR AFTER FINDING HER IN BED WITH HIS ADULT SON
SANTA ANA – A Fullerton man was convicted today of murdering his
43-year-old neighbor after finding her in bed with his adult son.
Guillermo Rodriguez, 43, Fullerton, was found guilty by a jury of one
felony count each of murder, criminal threats, and dissuading a witness
from testifying. Rodriguez has four prior strikes including two robbery
and two assault with a deadly weapon convictions in 1996. Rodriguez now
faces a maximum sentence of 80 years to life in state prison at his
sentencing on Dec. 10, 2010, at 9:00 a.m. in Department C-42, Central
Justice Center, Santa Ana.
Guillermo Rodriguez's son,
Junior Rodriguez, was also charged and convicted in this case (see below).
On the night of Oct. 16, 2006, Guillermo Rodriguez had a dinner party at
his apartment in Fullerton with his girlfriend, four sons, and neighbor
Donna Dutton and her 12-year-old daughter. Guillermo Rodriguez consumed
alcohol throughout the night. At approximately 1:00 a.m. on Oct. 17,
2006, Guillermo Rodriguez left the apartment with his girlfriend to
purchase more alcohol. When they returned to the apartment, Guillermo
Rodriguez walked into the bedroom of his 18-year-old son, Junior
Rodriguez, and found Dutton in bed with him. The defendant argued with
Dutton and yelled at his girlfriend and son to leave the room and close
the door. Guillermo Rodriguez strangled and murdered Dutton, wrapped her
in a blanket, and left the body in the bathroom.
The next evening, Guillermo Rodriguez carried the victim out of the
apartment and into his girlfriend's car with the help of Junior
Rodriguez. The defendant drove to Victorville and dumped the body in a
remote area. He instructed his son and his girlfriend to tell police
that the victim had left the dinner party at 2:30 a.m. if questioned.
Ten days later, hunters came across the victim's body and notified
police.
In December 2006, Rodriguez told his new wife,
Christina Rodriguez, what
he had done to Dutton a couple of months earlier. On March 20, 2007,
while at the Fullerton Police Department, Christina Rodriguez called the
defendant to discuss the crime. He dissuaded her from telling anyone
what he had said.
On May 29, 2007, Guillermo and Junior Rodriguez were arrested. On Jan.
8, 2008, Junior Rodriguez pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the
fact and was sentenced to one year in jail and three years of formal
probation.
Senior Deputy District Attorney
Steve McGreevy of the Homicide Unit is prosecuting this case.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.