Merced defendant in 2017 death of Golden Valley High student pleads no contest
The man accused of killing 17-year-old Heaven Murillo and leaving her body in a Merced-area field was sentenced to nine years in prison as part of negotiated plea with prosecutors.
Benjamin Goddard pleaded no contest Wednesday to charges of involuntary manslaughter and soliciting a minor to use narcotics, according to a news release from the Merced County District Attorney’s Office.
With the plea, Goddard admitted responsibility for the death of the Golden Valley High student. She was last seen about a month before her body was found.
The investigation of Murillo’s death began when dove hunters found her body in a field north of Dickenson Ferry Road and east of South Thornton Road in Merced on Sept. 2, 2017. She was properly identified in April 2018.
Medical experts were unable to determine a cause of death, but her death was ruled a homicide.
Detectives with the Merced Police Department determined was Goddard a person-of-interest after phone records indicated Murillo was with him during the hours before her death.
The phone records also showed Goddard traveled to the field where Murillo’s body was found.
A search also uncovered other evidence that suggested Goddard had traveled to the field at least one time after Murillo’s body was taken to that location.
He also admitted to spending time with Murillo during the days and hours before her death and using methamphetamine with her. Medical evidence confirmed methamphetamine and one other drug in Murillo’s system, the release said.
Goddard’s arrest came after a year-long investigation by Merced police. Interviews of dozens of people and cellphone records appear to show Goddard was the last person to see Murillo before she went missing, according to the reports.
Goddard reportedly told investigators Murillo stayed with him for more than two full days near an illegal marijuana cultivation site he was guarding at the south end of R Street in Merced. Goddard told investigators he last saw Murillo when she left with someone else in a van, police reports say.
The entire detective unit at the Merced Police Department took on the case. Travis Colby and Angelica Lozano prosecuted the case, the release said.
In light of the evidence in the case and in consideration of the wishes of the Murillo family, District Attorney Kimberly Lewis approved the negotiated plea.
Goddard is scheduled to be sentenced on April 23.
Lewis commented on the case in an email to the Sun-Star on Thursday. “Decisions like the one made yesterday in the Benjamin Goddard case are very difficult. One must balance a wide variety of considerations, including the status of the law, the available evidence in the case, the anticipated response of the judge and the jury, and the impact to a victim’s family,” Lewis said in the statement.
She went on to say, “There are moments when the criminal justice process is incapable of producing the response a victim or their family would describe as justice. In this case, our office devoted the time of two experienced prosecutors over a substantial period. It is the conclusion of those prosecutors, their management, and myself that the negotiated settlement is appropriate.”
Defendant could be released in 18 months
Attorneys Adam Rodriguez and Doug Foster represented Goddard in the case.
When reached for comment on Thursday, attorney Adam Rodriguez said the deal has his client facing about half of the nine years and that Goddard has already served more than two years in prison.
Rodriguez said there wasn’t any evidence his client had harmed Heaven Murillo. He also said the evidence against his client being the last one to see her alive was circumstantial.
Rodriguez also said there was no evidence of a homicide, saying the last person to see Murillo alive was an officer who saw her walking away from his client’s house. “She was walking away from my client’s house toward the airport where she was ultimately found,” he said.
In regards to the phone records, Rodriguez said his client lives near the airport and was at home when it happened.
Rodriguez said that early on, an undercover officer was put in a cell with his client to see if they could get a confession out of him. According to Rodriguez, his client never confessed.
Even after about 10 to 12 hours of interrogation, his client’s story was consistent, he said.
Rodriguez said he thinks the plea deal was fair because it gives his client a guarantee that he will be able to go home in about 18 months. “He was willing to accept the giving drugs to a minor, even though evidence suggests he wasn’t aware she was a minor at the time,” Rodriguez said.
“What he didn’t want to do was plea to second degree or voluntary, and I think he was able to stomach the involuntary,” said Rodriguez.
According to Rodriguez, it was a very tough choice for his client to make and that his client is thankful the District Attorney gave him time to think about it.
“At the end of the day, he was facing life in prison and he had a deal where he could go home in 18 months,” Rodriguez said.
This story was originally published April 7, 2021 at 10:40 PM.
