Oxnard Man Found Guilty of Murder

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

The jury deliberated for one day before finding Cruz Alcantar 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 being translated into Spanish in Ventura County Superior Court. Because he has two felony convictions for child molestation, Alcantar faces 86 years to life when he is sentenced June 5.

Mendez was found in a pool of blood last April 24, 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 the victim, the next morning as he was walking to work. He was carrying a plastic bag containing her pants, shoes, underwear and purse, police said.

The six men and six women of 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 experience was sobering but that it was not difficult to reach a guilty verdict.

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

Deputy Dist. Atty. Patricia Murphy said she was relieved that Alcantar will spend the rest of his life in prison. “He is a very dangerous man,” she said.

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

Sergio Colmenares, a former cellmate of Alcantar’s, testified that the defendant admitted killing Mendez.

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

Alcantar had been deported to Mexico, but came back into the country illegally. A few weeks before the killing, he had been arrested on suspicion of driving drunk and had used a fake name.

Murphy said the physical evidence, including the victim’s blood found on Alcantar’s pants and under his fingernails, was very strong. And Colmenares’ testimony provided a motive.

Lipson argued during the trial that his client spent the evening drinking at an Oxnard bar with Mendez but did not kill her.

If he had, Lipson told jurors, there would have been more blood on him and his clothes. He also said 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.