Sacramento jury recommends death sentence for 2017 South Land Park family murders
Sacramento jurors have chosen death for South Land Park mass murderer Salvador Vasquez-Oliva, who killed his family at their home in 2017.
Vasquez-Oliva was convicted May 1 in Sacramento Superior Court of murder with special circumstances of the March 2017 killings of his wife, two children and a niece inside their 35th Avenue home.
The one-time state worker awaited his fate last week in the trial’s penalty phase. Sacramento County District Attorney’s principal criminal attorney Jeff Hightower had said from the court case’s early days that he planned to seek the death penalty. A moratorium on the death penalty remains, but Vasquez-Oliva will spend his remaining years on death row.
On Friday, jurors returned the death verdict prosecutors sought, delivering the news to Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Sweet.
Vasquez-Oliva, now 62, bludgeoned his wife, Angelique Vasquez, 45, and their two children, daughter Mia Vasquez, 14, and son Alvin Vasquez, 11, to death. He also fatally stabbed niece Ashley Coleman, 21, at the home in South Land Park, in murders that shocked the quiet neighborhood and Sacramento community. The four were discovered by Sacramento police during a welfare check prompted by a call from a concerned family member.
Hours after their bodies were found, police tracked down Vasquez-Oliva in a San Francisco neighborhood, where Vasquez-Oliva confessed his crimes to family members.
Vasquez-Oliva’s sentencing before Sweet is scheduled for Aug. 25 in Sacramento Superior Court.
This story was originally published May 15, 2023 at 10:35 AM.
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