California woman convicted of beating boyfriend to death with hammer
07/06/2023 3:29 pm PDT
PORTERVILLE, Calif. (TCD) -- A jury convicted a 55-year-old woman this week of killing her 38-year-old boyfriend with a hammer in 2018.
Tulare County District Attorney's Office prosecutors secured the conviction against Rosa Boca for first-degree murder Monday, July 3.
According to a news release from the Porterville Police Department, on Monday, Dec. 17, 2018, officers responded to a home on the 200 block of South Indiana Street to a report of a possible assault. Baca's boyfriend of 16 months, Jose Magana, was transported to a local trauma center via ambulance for critical injuries and had to be put on life support.
Police said his injuries were consistent with being assaulted with a blunt weapon.
According to the District Attorney's Office, Baca told officials she got into an argument with her boyfriend the night before. She reportedly said he left the home and returned in the early morning shirtless with no shoes and had sustained apparent injuries.
However, the District Attorney's Office said Magana had clean feet despite being shoeless, and there was no blood or signs of struggle.
Baca also reportedly said she had not driven anywhere the previous night and morning, but officers observed that her car was "warm to the touch, indicating that it had been recently driven, and mud tracks from the vehicle were evident."
Police served a search warrant at Baca and Magana's home and found evidence that "revealed several inconsistencies in the initial statement provided by Ms. Baca."
According to the District Attorney's Office, Baca eventually confessed that she had "kicked the victim, beat him with a hammer, and driven his and her clothes to a dumpster."
Investigators recovered surveillance video that showed her driving away from the home when the assault was reported.
Police determined Baca had attacked her boyfriend to the point of unconsciousness and failed to seek medical assistance for several hours.
Magana eventually succumbed to his injuries at the hospital on Dec. 18, 2018, at approximately 1:18 p.m.
Baca is scheduled to be sentenced July 31 and faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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