Anaheim Man Convicted of Killing Ex-Girlfriend, Fetus

An Anaheim man accused of killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend to avoid paying child support, then dumping her body off the coast, was found guilty Monday--although the victim’s body hasn’t been recovered.

Richard Tovar, 23, faces life in prison for the murders of 20-year-old Jeannette Gomez Espeleta, a Fullerton bank teller, and the eight-month fetus she was carrying when she disappeared in 1998.

Her disappearance prompted a major manhunt, sending divers for days to comb the waters off Long Beach for the body and other clues.

The Santa Ana jury heard testimony that Tovar and another man dumped Espeleta’s body near an oil platform by Long Beach Harbor. Family members also testified that Tovar didn’t have an alibi. Jurors deliberated three hours before arriving at a verdict.

“There was no body, no weapon, and we couldn’t find the victim’s car,” said Fullerton Police Sgt. Kevin Hamilton. “But there wasn’t a lot of speculation over what happened. We had some pretty clear evidence.”

Police believe Espeleta was shot to death shortly after meeting Tovar on July 17, 1998, near the Main Place Mall in Santa Ana. Later, police said, Tovar took the body to the Long Beach marina, where he boarded a 21-foot ski boat and motored into the ocean with two men, Hector Rodriguez and Nicholas Gray.

Gray, a Fullerton resident, testified that the men wrapped Espeleta’s body with chains and weights, then threw it into the ocean about a mile offshore.

The break in the case came when Rodriguez’s girlfriend told investigators the men had expressed concern about being caught for the killing.

Espeleta’s sister, Jennifer Gomez Espeleta, told investigators that shortly before her sister’s disappearance, she had served Tovar with court papers notifying him that he would be responsible for child support.

During the one-week trial, prosecutors presented evidence contradicting Tovar’s account of his whereabouts during the murder. Witnesses also testified that they saw Tovar rent the vessel at an Orange boat shop.

Tovar, an assistant at the Orange County auditor-controller’s office, did not have a criminal record at the time of the murder. His attorney, Bob Corrado, stressed that a body has never been found--nor has a murder weapon.

“They [prosecutors] didn’t prove that she was dead, or that the defendant did it. . . . She could still be alive,” said Corrado.

Tovar’s accomplices also face murder charges: Gray, 22, is expected to plead guilty to manslaughter charges later this year. In July, a jury returned a murder conviction against Rodriguez, 24.

Tovar was charged with a double murder because of a 1994 state Supreme Court ruling that cleared the way for prosecutions in the killing of a fetus.

At the time of her disappearance, Espeleta was only weeks away from giving birth and had already named her baby girl Alyssa.