Jessica Yesenia Quintanilla, 23, of Pittsburg, is seen in Department 11 of Solano County Superior Court, Judge William J. Pendergast’s courtroom, in November 2021 to be arraigned on charges connected to the slaying of Leilani Beauchamp, 19, of Carmel, who was reported missing in Oct. 30, 2021. (Reporter file/Joel Rosenbaum)
A Solano County Superior Court judge scheduled an August trial date for a brother and sister charged in connection to the late-October 2021 killing of a 19-year-old Carmel woman in Fairfield.
During a Friday morning trial-setting hearing, Judge William J. Pendergast ordered Jessica Yesenia Quintanilla, and Marco Antonio Quintanilla, 29, both of Pittsburg, to return to Department 11 at 9:30 a.m. Aug. 5 in the Justice Building in Fairfield.
The judge also scheduled some pretrial matters, including a readiness conference at 8:30 a.m. Feb. 16 and a trial management conference at 8:30 a.m. Aug. 1.
Deputy District Attorney Ilana Shapiro leads the prosecution.
Jessica Quintanilla, 23, is represented by San Francisco-based attorney William Alan Welch. She is being held without bail on first-degree murder charges in the Claybank Detention Facility in Fairfield.
Marco Quintanilla, 29, who is represented by San Francisco attorney Laurie D. Savill, is charged with being an accessory in the case and violating his parole associated with a felony conviction for attempted murder. He was previously being held at the Stanton Correctional Facility in Fairfield on $50,000 bail, but, on Feb. 2, 2022, he posted bail on the parole charge and was released.
At their initial arraignment, they entered not-guilty pleas.
Court records show that on Oct. 30, 2021, the Fairfield Police Department received a missing person report for Leilani Beauchamp, last seen leaving a Halloween party in Sacramento earlier that morning with two active-duty airmen from Travis Air Force Base who were living off-base on Cascade Lane in Fairfield.
Fairfield officers worked with Travis AFB’s Office of Special Investigations and the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, as Beauchamp’s remains were later discovered in Salinas.
Lt. Jausiah Jacobsen, the Fairfield Police Department’s public information officer at the time, said warrants were issued to search the Cascade Lane residence on Oct. 31.
Police investigators ended up arresting three in connection with the killing: the Quintanillas and Juan Parra-Peralta, 20 at the time, one of the airmen who lived in the house.
Court records show Jessica Quintanilla was arrested on Oct. 31 near the intersection of Railroad Avenue and Linscheid Drive in Fairfield. It is unclear when and where Marco Quintanilla was taken into custody.
Also, court records show that Parra-Peralta was not charged in the case and is not in custody. The second airman Beauchamp left with was not publicly identified and was not arrested.
Solano County Chief Deputy District Attorney Paul Sequeira told reporters after Nov. 2, 2021, proceedings that the killing may have stemmed from a “love triangle situation” as the investigation continued.
At that time, Jacobsen said it had not been confirmed how all the parties knew each other.
Originally published at Richard Bammer