Woman’s Alleged Killer Could Face Life in Prison
The San Diego County district attorney’s office announced Wednesday that it will seek a life term in prison without parole for the man accused of killing a woman in front of her children on a freeway off-ramp.
Special circumstances allegations were filed against Brian Ray Fletcher, 22, of San Diego, who is being tried in the June 20 shooting of Maria Guadalupe Estrada, 33.
Also charged with the Southeast San Diego woman’s murder and attempted robbery is co-defendant Terrance Moord, 27, of San Diego. Both men pleaded not guilty before San Diego Municipal Judge Fred Link, who set a trial date for March 18, 1992.
The grounds for the special circumstances filed against Fletcher allege he was lying in wait before the slaying and that he shot Estrada during an attempted robbery.
Estrada was driving off an Interstate 15 ramp around 2:45 a.m. with her children and her mother after attending a niece’s birthday party. She saw two men standing beside a stalled taxicab. The men reportedly asked her for jumper cables in what the prosecution says was a ruse for robbery.
Estrada told them she had no jumper cables and started to drive away when one man shot her in the head. She continued driving about a quarter of a mile, then collapsed near the Imperial Avenue exit on I-15.
Both defendants remain in County Jail without bail.
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