California Man Broke Into His Estranged Wife’s Home, Killed Her As Their 2-Year-Old Daughter Slept By Her Side

A man who fled to Mexico from California after killing his wife and her boyfriend in their bed almost 30 years ago is now headed to prison.

The Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko announced a jury has found Everardo Meza Alamillo, 53, guilty of two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the shooting deaths of his estranged wife, Adriana Meza, and her boyfriend, Armando Cauich Jr.

On October 13, 1993, the D.A. said, Alamillo visited the 2-year-old daughter he shared with Meza at the pair’s home since Meza hoped he could be part of the little girl’s life.

Later that evening, Alamillo returned to Meza’s home armed with a .22-caliber rifle. “Alamillo eventually entered the home through a back door and walked into Ms. Meza’s bedroom and Alamillo shot her three times and Mr. Cauich Jr. twice while they lay in bed,” Nasarenko said, adding that the defendant’s 2-year-old daughter was sleeping between the two victims at the time of their murders.

According to the D.A., Alamillo then fled to Mexico. Though he wasn’t in custody, he was indicted the following year on two counts of murder. Authorities located and arrested Alamillo in Mexico in November 2015 and he was extradited to the United States in 2016.

“I am so happy for Adriana’s and Armando’s families,” Senior Deputy District Attorney John Barrick, a member of the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office Major Crimes Homicide Unit, said of recently securing Alamillo’s conviction. “For almost 30 years, they have lived with the pain and burden of knowing that the man who murdered their loved ones had eluded justice. That all ended today. I hope the jury’s guilty verdicts can bring these strong, amazing families some small measure of peace.”

Alamillo’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 16.