SANTA ANA (CNS) - A 43-year-old Mission Viejo woman pleaded guilty Friday and was immediately sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for stabbing her boyfriend to death in the backyard of their home.
Georgette Maggie Del Rio pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder with a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a deadly weapon. She was given credit for 933 days behind bars.
Del Rio killed 40-year-old William "Joey" Clemens on June 23, 2022, at their home at 21826 Calabaza.
Del Rio's daughter, Jayline Savala, testified during her mother's preliminary hearing in December 2022 that she was napping when she woke up to screams. She frantically searched through the home until she found the source of the outbursts in the backyard, she said.
She saw her mother stabbing Clemens, she said. Her mother told her to "just go," so she dashed back into the residence and roused her sister, who was also sleeping.
She said she told her sister, "Mom is stabbing Joey." The two eventually left the home with her sister's newborn, the daughter testified.
The victim was stabbed 64 times, prosecutors said in court papers when the defendant was seeking to lower her bail.
In opposition to the bail motion, prosecutors said the defendant "viciously and violently attacked and stabbed her boyfriend to death while he was unarmed, unsuspecting and simply standing in his backyard."
The attack "lasted nearly 10 minutes," prosecutors said.
In the court papers, prosecutors said Del Rio "acted due to a delusional belief that has no basis in fact. Defendant's actions may have in part been due to her mental health issues and the use of drugs."
Del Rio has four daughters, her attorneys said in court papers. She has had "no prior instances of violence against anyone," her attorneys said.
Del Rio had marijuana in her system at the time, prosecutors said. Clemens grew marijuana at the residence, the attorneys said.
Authorities never released a motive for the stabbing, but Del Rio's daughter testified during the preliminary hearing that a few years prior to the attack when she lived with the couple, she had an issue where she would go to bed clothed and wake up nude. She was about 21 when the attack happened.
"This happened, I think, for like three days straight maybe, and -- I would go to sleep with my clothes on and wake up and everything would be off. Everything," she testified.
She said she "started locking the door and it stopped happening."
She told her husband about it as well as her mother, she said. Her mother told her that Clemens "wouldn't do that," she testified.