Man Convicted in Fatal Stabbing of Woman in Oxnard

One year to the day after police found a 41-year-old woman stabbed to death on an Oxnard sidewalk, jurors Tuesday convicted a parolee of her murder.

The Ventura County jurors deliberated for one day before finding Cruz Alcantar of Oxnard guilty of killing Anna Mendez, a mother of four who sometimes worked as a prostitute.

Alcantar, a 25-year-old construction worker, stared straight ahead as he listened to the verdict translated into Spanish. Because he has two felony convictions for child molestation, Alcantar faces 86 years to life when he is sentenced June 5 for first-degree murder.

Mendez was found in a pool of blood on April 24, 2000, with her throat slashed and stab wounds to her chest. She was nude from the waist down, and the contents of her purse were strewn around her body.

Police arrested Alcantar, the last person seen with her, the next morning as he walked to work. He was carrying a plastic bag with her pants, shoes, underwear and purse.

The jury also convicted Alcantar of using a deadly weapon in the murder. His fingerprint was found on the blood-covered knife found near Mendez’s body.

The jury foreman said the verdict was not difficult to reach.

“We could argue back and forth on everything except for the fingerprint on the knife,” said the foreman, who declined to give his name.

During the weeklong trial, Deputy Dist. Atty. Patricia Murphy argued that Alcantar killed Mendez because he feared she was going to call police after the pair got into a minor traffic accident. If she did, he was convinced he would be sent back to prison for parole violations.

A former cellmate of Alcantar, Sergio Colmenares, testified during the murder trial that the defendant admitted killing Mendez.

Deputy Public Defender Steve Lipson argued that Colmenares was not a credible witness because he was a gang member and got a deal from the district attorney’s office in exchange for his testimony.

“If the district attorney uses an informant, it is usually the sign of a weak case,” Lipson said. “But apparently, I was the only one who felt that.”