A man who fatally shot his stepmother and half-brother in Imperial Beach was sentenced Friday to two consecutive terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Marco Antonio Valadez Jr., 50, pleaded guilty in Chula Vista Superior Court to two first-degree murder counts and a special circumstance allegation of committing multiple murders for the Dec. 4, 2021, slayings of Raquel Pitsenberger, 55, and her 36-year-old son, Marco “Tony” Valadez Jr.
Sheriff’s deputies found the victims inside a home on Fern Avenue that afternoon. Pitsenberger died at the scene, while her son died at a hospital.
Valadez was arrested in Mexico and extradited to the United States less than two weeks after the deadly shootings.
Around the time of his arrest, prosecutors said the killings were intended to cover up sexual crimes he committed days earlier.
The San Diego County District Attorney’s Office said then in a statement that the murders stemmed from a confrontation “in which (Valadez) was trying to silence family members who were potential witnesses” to an alleged sexual assault of an 18-year-old woman that occurred two days prior.
Though felony sexual abuse charges Valadez faced were dismissed as part of his plea to the murder counts, prosecutors and family members at Valadez’s sentencing hearing referred to the woman as a sexual assault victim. Valadez, who was convicted in 1998 of forcible rape, was also sentenced to a four-year concurrent prison term on Friday for a separate case of failing to register as a sex offender.
