Youth Convicted of Killing Woman at Zuma Beach

A Superior Court judge on Tuesday found an 18-year-old New Mexico youth guilty of murder in the stabbing death of a Northridge woman last year at Zuma Beach.

Judge David Perez also found Guillermo Bustos guilty of robbery and special circumstances of lying in wait and intent to commit great bodily injury. The ruling followed two days of testimony, which included taped confessions by Bustos, in Santa Monica Superior Court.

Bustos will be sentenced Nov. 16 and faces a maximum of life in prison without the possibility of parole in the death of Jacqueline A. Kirkham, 43.

A second defendant, Michael Loretto, 18, will be tried separately.

On Tuesday, a second taped statement made by Bustos in the May 28, 1991, killing was played in court.

As in a similar statement played Monday, Bustos explained that he, Loretto and a third youth, who has not been charged, came to California after they burglarized a New Mexico bar and that authorities were looking for them.

After spending three nights at Zuma Beach while the third youth, Jason Alexander, 18, tried to locate his grandfather in Camarillo, the teen-agers had no money and needed a ride home, Bustos said. Loretto had talked the previous day about killing someone and stealing a car, Bustos said.

Then Loretto saw Kirkham arrive in a 1990 Nissan 240SX sports car, Bustos said.

“I was sleeping most of the time,” Bustos said, while Loretto watched Kirkham on the beach for nearly three hours before she went to the restroom.

“Michael said, ‘Let’s do it,’ ” Bustos told investigators.

Loretto followed Kirkham into the restroom and whistled for Bustos after she began to struggle.

“I grabbed the knife,” Bustos said, “Michael said, ‘Do it, do it,’ and I stabbed her twice.”

The teen-agers stole Kirkham’s car and returned to New Mexico. They were arrested there June 5, 1991, after the car had been in an accident, investigators testified.