Murderer Gets 29 Years in Dismemberment Case

A La Mesa woman was sentenced Friday to 29 years to life in prison for fatally shooting her live-in boyfriend, dismembering his body and dumping it along Interstate 15.

Cindy Ann Oakley, 30, was convicted of first-degree murder last month in the slaying of her former lover, Charles Lee Bebout. His mutilated body was found near the Riverside County line one year ago.

Superior Court Judge J. Perry Langford sentenced Oakley to 25 years to life in prison for the murder and an additional four years for a weapons charge. Langford also ordered her to lifetime probation should she ever be released.

“The defendant took the .38-caliber handgun, held it one-half to 1 inch from the head of the victim and shot him,” Deputy Dist. Atty. August Meyer said.

Bebout was shot to death Nov. 1, 1991, in the bedroom of the La Mesa house they shared. During the trial last month, Oakley testified that she cut off Bebout’s fingerprints and cut out a tattoo with his name to make it difficult to identify him.

She also said she cut off his legs because the body was too heavy to move. The main part of his body was found wrapped in a sleeping bag, and the remaining parts were found wrapped in a plastic trash bag about a mile down the freeway.

Oakley’s attorney, William Youmans, said Friday that he was preparing an appeal. During the trial, Youmans had argued that Oakley was the victim of a relationship that had become increasingly violent and that Bebout had threatened to kill both of them the day of his murder.