A California appeals court has upheld the conviction of a 57-year-old man serving life without parole for the September 1989 rape and murder of 39-year-old Monica Wertlieb, whose body was found in a hidden lot in Los Angeles’ Westlake district. The ruling closes another chapter in a case that went unsolved for nearly three decades before DNA evidence led detectives to Orlando Dejesus Arredondodonis.
In a 15-page opinion, a three-justice panel of California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal concluded that Arredondodonis dragged Wertlieb nearly 200 feet into an elevated, hidden lot before killing her specifically to rape her out of public view, satisfying the legal standard for a rape-murder special circumstance, according to MyNewsLA.com. The court rejected the defense’s contention that evidence was insufficient to support that special circumstance, and it also rejected the argument that jurors should never have heard about an alleged 2017 domestic violence incident involving Arredondodonis. Wertlieb was found dead in the 1300 block of West Third Street near Bixel Street and Lucas Avenue, in a vacant lot west of the Harbor 110 Freeway, on September 17, 1989.
DNA testing eventually linked Arredondodonis to the crime, and Los Angeles Police Department Robbery-Homicide Division detectives arrested him in October 2017. He has remained behind bars ever since. The break fits a broader pattern for the department’s Robbery-Homicide Division, whose Cold Case Homicide Unit was established in November 2001 to re-examine unsolved cases using advances in DNA technology and was restructured in 2020 to incorporate reserve officers and retired detectives, according to the Los Angeles Police Reserve Foundation. LAPD records indicate the department has investigated more than 11,000 homicides since 1980, with roughly 4,000 remaining unsolved cold cases, per Uncovered.
Jury Reached Verdict in Under Two Hours
A downtown Los Angeles jury deliberated for approximately two hours on April 29, 2024, before finding Arredondodonis guilty of first-degree murder and rape, according to the Los Angeles Police Protective League. Jurors also found true the special circumstance allegation of murder during the commission of a rape. During closing arguments, Deputy District Attorney Alexander Lara said the evidence showed Wertlieb was knocked unconscious, dragged, raped and had her throat cut with a broken bottle…