Delhi man sentenced to prison for 2010 murder of girlfriend in Merced County
A Merced Superior Court Judge sentenced Jesus Ortega to 33-years-to-life in prison on Wednesday for the 2010 murder of his girlfriend Armanda Llanos-Flores.
On Nov. 10 a Merced County jury convicted Ortega, 49, of all crimes and enhancements alleged, including one count of felony first-degree murder with personal use of a deadly weapon, one count of felony assault with a deadly weapon causing great bodily injury, and one count of felony criminal threats, according to a news release from the Merced County District Attorney’s Office.
On March 31, 2010, the Merced County Sheriff’s Office responded to the 1900 block of First Street in Hilmar for the report of a stabbing.
Ortega and the victim, his girlfriend of 10 years, had gotten into an argument. Ortega left the house and bought whiskey before drinking it at a nearby ranch, prosecutors said.
The defendant was angry and confronted the victim, Llanos-Flores. She and her two daughters, then ages 14 and 16, fled the home in fear for their lives. The defendant chased them outside and then stabbed the victim at least one time, nearly severing an artery in her vertebrae, according to an investigator’s report.
When Llanos-Flores’s 48-year-old brother tried to intervene, he was also stabbed in the back and slashed on the face before Ortega left the scene.
Inside the home, agents found about $5,000 in meth, in addition to several canisters of acetone and other chemicals used for meth production.
Agents also found a shrine dedicated to Santa Muerte — a deity that is venerated in some parts of Mexico. The shrine included numerous statues of Santa Muerte, including one that was about 2 feet high.
Santa Muerte is a cloaked skeleton figure who carries a scythe, similar in appearance to the Grim Reaper.
The defendant fled to Mexico and was returned to Merced County in late 2018. Ortega had a wife and children in Mexico, according to the investigator’s report. She said she was not aware of the extramarital affair until after her husband was arrested.
During the trial, Llanos-Flores’s daughters testified not only to the killing they witnessed, but also told the jury about prior, unreported acts of domestic violence they had seen the defendant commit against her.
Judge Carol Ash’s sentence will send Ortega to prison for the maximum amount of time allowed under the law.
At the sentencing hearing, family members spoke passionately about how the loss of their loved one has impacted their lives and their great sorrow now and during the last 10 years as their lives have continued without her, the release said.
Deputy District Attorneys Nicole Silveira and Kayla Boyer prosecuted the case. Sgt. Andrade of the Merced County Sheriff’s Office was the lead investigator on the case.
