The Irvine Police Department (IPD) utilized DNA testing to identify a 2009 kidnapping and homicide victim. Police identified Reno, Nev., resident Marcia Shirree Thomas who was 14-years old at the time.
Thomas’s body was found in an Irvine industrial parking lot on the morning of Sept. 5, 2009, by a passerby. Police initially suspected that the victim was in her mid-20s due to the lack of ID and untraceable dental records.
Brothers Gabino Valdivia-Guzman and Zenaido Valdivia-Guzman are accused to allegedly have lured Thomas to a van from an area near First St. Street and Harbor Blvd in Santa Ana on Sept. 4, 2009, with Gabino driving and Zenaido out of sight of the victim. Thomas reportedly began screaming and attempting to escape, to which Zenaido Valdivia-Guzman is accused of beating and strangling her to death. The suspects allegedly dumped and incinerated Thomas’s body in the parking lot, taking the victim’s cell phone.
Gabino awaits trial while his younger brother was convicted on first-degree murder and the “special circumstance of murder in the commission of a kidnapping” in November 2022, according to a IPD press release.
“The Irvine Police Department has been committed to this case since 2009. Marcia’s family remains in our thoughts during this difficult time,” Police Chief Michael Kent said in the statement. “We appreciate the agencies that have assisted in providing crucial information to support the case and the family.”
According to Orange County Superior Court documents obtained by ABC News, DNA from the victim’s left fingernail linked Zenaido to the crime. Zenaido previously provided a sample to a national DNA database to settle a 2009 domestic violence case, where he allegedly choked his girlfriend and threw her 9-year-old son against the wall after the son attempted to intervene.
Both defendants were located and arrested on Nov. 6, 2010, according to the IPD press release. An additional police investigation resulted in authorities claiming Gabino’s involvement, and each brother was initially charged with one felony count of first-degree murder under the commission of kidnapping.
Both brothers were arraigned on Nov. 9, 2010 and pleaded not guilty.
Zenaido was first tried in 2016, but a mistrial was declared due to a deadlocked jury. He is now serving life without the possibility of parole. Gabino will be tried in November 2024, according to an email from the Orange County District Attorney’s Office to New University.
Mariam Farag is a News Intern for the summer 2024 quarter. She can be reached at msfarag@uci.edu.
Edited by Kaelyn Kwon and Jaheem Conley.
