ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY NEWS RELEASE
Case # 15CF2751
Date: October 6, 2017
SANTA ANA, Calif. – A man was sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison today for the cold case murder of a woman whose body was left in a parking lot in Santa Ana in 2007.
Defendant: Jose Esteban Cardenas Zuniga, 41, Mammoth Lakes
Found guilty by a jury on July 20, 2017 of: First Degree Murder
Sentence: 25 years to life in state prison
Circumstances of Case: Continue reading
Jose Esteban Zuniga
A jury on Thursday convicted Jose Esteban Cardenas Zuniga, a 41-year-old Mammoth Lakes man, of first-degree murder for the killing of a 25-year-old prostitute, Yacshicka Watts, whose body was dumped a decade ago in a Santa Ana parking lot, according to the OCDA.
Ten years later and prostitutes are still getting killed in Santa Ana! Some things never change. Continue reading
Santa Ana has had a problem with prostitution for some time – and the prostitutes have been at times targeted by murderous criminals. The trail of one of those suspects, Jose Esteban Cardenas Zuniga, a 41-year old resident of Mammoth Lakes, started today, according to the O.C. Register.
Zuniga is charged with killing a then 25-year old prostitute, Yacshicka Watts, whose body was found at a Santa Ana business park, early in the morning, on Oct. 20, 2007, by transients. Continue reading