Orange County judges required less than a day of deliberation to find the 39-year-old Air Force veteran in the horrifying stab wound death of his ex-girlfriend, a murder partially captured in voicemail nearly five years ago.
Laura Sardinha, 25, had issued a restraining order against Craig Charron, as well as at least three other women who testified at the trial.
The couple hadn’t dated for a very long time when Charon moved to Huntington Beach Apartment in Sardinia, in the 8400 block of Jenny Drive.
Sardinia, who worked as a bartender assistant, was involved in a motorcycle accident in 2019 and was unable to do the job and earned a degree in psychology. On a settlement from the accident, she received $750,000, where she gave Chalong $100,000.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the prosecutor said that Charlon responded with text, “Thank you for showing me that you are all mine.”
In an exchange that was recorded on her cell phone just two weeks before her murder and announced during the trial, she complained to Chalong that she couldn’t hear because of the drums of her ears. “You’ll continue to attack me,” she said. “Massage the calves or end this relationship,” he replied.
Craig Charron, 39 and Laura Sardinha, 25.
On the day of her murder, Charon woke up in the morning by Sardinia and demanded another exchange she had recorded over the phone. She heard him telling him to leave her alone and run away from her.
“You’re not leaving, so you’ll terrify me,” she heard.
That same day, on September 2, 2020, the Sardinian apartment manager arranged maintenance to change the lock on her apartment, the Times reported. She then ignored Chalong’s phone and text.
At about 1:15pm, on a three-way call between his best friend and his mother, the 25-year-old said, “Yeah, he’s here.”
Her friend hung up and called 911. Sardinia called her and left a voicemail for the oc deputy discipst. Atty. In her final discussion, Janine Madera described her as “a woman who speaks of her murder,” the Times reported.
It is unclear how Chalong entered the apartment. During the trial, he testified that he had passed through an unlocked door.
Prosecutors said the 6-foot tall, 220-pound Air Force veteran stabbed the 25-year-old twice in the chest, nearly cutting his nose from the face and stabbing the head in the prosecutor’s position.
Sardinia was dead when police arrived. Chalong, who is still on the scene, was found bleeding in the chest and neck from the cut, and the wound prosecutor said he gave him.
Testifying in his own defense at 25-year-old 100 pounds and 9 inches, 39-year-old, claiming that she attacked him with a knife, he stabbed her in self-defense.
Charlon’s defense attorney Michael Guisty said the Times reported that despite the client’s history of violence, it was “non-greater violence.”
Convicted of first-degree murder, Chalong faces the possibility of living in prison for 26 years. His ruling is set for July 25th.
Source link
