Man and woman convicted of 2019 murder, lighting victim on fire near Sacramento Delta
A man and a woman face life in prison after being convicted this week of a gruesome 2019 murder in Sacramento County’s Delta area, in which the victim was beaten, stabbed and burned alive before dying of his injuries.
Martitsa Guerrero, 29, and Martin Chavez Jr., 30, were found guilty Wednesday by a Sacramento Superior Court jury of the Aug. 26, 2019 slaying of Fabian Costilla. The jury trial lasted one week, court records show.
Guerrero, Chavez and Costilla traveled together from Antioch to the Isleton area in a truck, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office said in a Thursday news release.
After being seen on surveillance video filling the truck and a gallon container with gasoline, Guerrero and Chavez beat and stabbed Costilla before stripping him of his clothes and taking him into a shed near the 14600 block of Isleton Road, according to the news release.
The pair then doused the victim with gasoline, set him on fire and fled the scene.
Costilla ran from the shed and put out the flames as firefighters responded to the scene, according to the DA’s news release.
“Before the victim died from his injuries, he was able to name the defendants as being the ones who set him on fire,” prosecutors wrote.
Costilla died at a hospital, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said at the time.
The truck was located with Costilla’s bloody shirt inside and his jeans were found in nearby bushes, according to prosecutors. Guerrero and Chavez were located by law enforcement and arrested later the same day.
Chavez, who has an allegation of a prior-strike conviction for robbery, faces up to 50 years to life in prison, prosecutors said. Guerrero faces a maximum of 25 years to life.
Both are scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 18.
This story was originally published October 20, 2022 at 1:48 PM.
