Irvine Man’s Killer Gets 15 Years to Life

An Irvine woman continued to maintain her innocence Friday as she was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for killing her 51-year-old boyfriend, whose body was never found.

Judy Valot, 42, received the maximum sentence for the slaying of Peter Theriault, who was last seen in late 1998. Valot was convicted of second-degree murder even though police were unable to find Theriault’s body or a murder weapon. Prosecutors presented only a few drops of blood as physical evidence.

The Santa Ana courtroom was packed with Theriault’s relatives, several of whom made sorrowful pleas for Orange County Superior Court Judge Frank F. Fasel to ensure Valot spends the rest of her life behind bars.

“How do you convey to someone else a loss so great it leaves an ache in your heart?” asked Penny Walsh, Theriault’s cousin. “The love and affection I had for [Theriault] as a child remains today. I know it will be a lifetime of aching and wondering over the unknown.”

But Valot, who has repeatedly insisted she is innocent, lashed out at the prosecutor and Theriault’s family Friday. “There were a lot of lies told by a lot of you in here,” she said. “I was convicted because of the police’s lies, your lies and [Deputy Dist. Atty.] Debora Lloyd’s lies.”

She accused Lloyd and Irvine police of planting evidence and trumping up the charges against her until Fasel ordered her to be quiet.

Valot, a forklift operator for Ford Motor Co. in Commerce, was arrested in December 1998, after making what police said were conflicting statements about Theriault’s disappearance.

Lloyd said Theriault, a maintenance worker at the same company, was last seen Dec. 2, 1998, in Lake Elsinore. Valot had become angry with Theriault because she believed he was having an affair, Lloyd said.

Investigators found four droplets of blood at Theriault’s Northwood home, which Valot and her daughter shared with the victim. Lloyd focused her case on Valot’s alleged jealousy.