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A Borrego Springs man convicted of killing his mother, who in 2023 was found partially dismembered in the home they shared, was sentenced Thursday to 25 years to life in prison. Last month, a Vista Superior Court jury found Jacob Guevara, 44, guilty of murder in the death of Leona Guevara, 63.
Her body was found in her son’s closet Nov. 18, 2023, by a sheriff’s deputy called to the Borrego Springs Road home after her daughter found blood on her mother’s bedroom floor but could not find her mother.
Leona Guevara had been strangled, and her throat had been cut. One leg and both hands had been amputated, according to a prosecution sentencing brief filed last week.
The victim was “particularly vulnerable,” as she was a dependent adult and her son was her caretaker, Deputy District Attorney Kelsey Hollander said in the court filing. Leona Guevara long ago had been diagnosed with a serious mental illness.
Court documents indicate that, on the night before Leona was found dead, there were several searches made on her son’s phone, including “stabbing throat prevents screaming” and “how to dismember a chicken” and “can shovels break through bones?” Jacob Guevara took the stand in his own de fense at trial.
According to Hollander’s court filing, his testimony “included a new story about the victim coming at him with a knife, and focused on disparaging her reputation even after he so brutally killed her.” The prosecutor alleged that Guevara tried to limit his culpability, blamed his mother for “forcing him to become violent,” and blamed his actions afterward on methamphetamine use.
In court Thursday morning, Leona’s daughter, Tiffany Vega, said her mother “had such a beautiful, nurturing soul” and had taught her to be “strong, loving, empathetic, passionate.” “My mom loved Jacob so much.
To abuse, murder, dismember someone who loved you that much is horrifying,” Vega, 33, said during her brother’s sentencing hearing. She later said, “There is an evil inside him that cannot be cured.” Vega was the one who called deputies for help finding her mother.
She called it “the worst day of my life.” Vega’s sister, Lori Guevara, lived in North Carolina in 2023. She also spoke, recounting the day their mother was found.
“I heard her crying and hyperventilating,” she said of her sister. “All I could understand was that Jacob had killed our mother and put her in a closet like trash.
That day broke me.” Both sisters said they’d been harboring growing concerns for their mother’s welfare. The night before Leona Guevara was found, her son had called deputies for assistance removing two people he’d been letting stay at the home for several weeks.
The responding deputy spoke to Lori Guevara over the phone and described the living conditions as hazardous and disgusting, according to Guevara. Vega made the drive from North County to Borrego Springs the next morning to collect her mother.
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