A man has pleaded guilty to murdering four people inside a Lancaster home in 2024 and then setting it on fire as an act of revenge following the end of a romantic relationship, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Friday.
Manuel Diego Sandoval, 21, pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder, with special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and murder by means of lying in wait.
Sandoval also pleaded guilty to one felony count each of attempted murder, first-degree residential burglary and arson of an inhabited structure or property, along with three felony counts of animal cruelty and two counts of child abuse under circumstances or conditions likely to cause great bodily injury or death, prosecutors said.
“The defendant was jilted when he broke up with his boyfriend and then did something unimaginable when he killed four innocent people,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said in a statement. “This was a calculated act of violence that left a void for the victims’ families that can never be filled.”
According to prosecutors, Sandoval, who was 19 at the time, waited outside a home on North Tabler Avenue in Lancaster on Nov. 16, 2024, until the occupants had gone to bed. He then entered the residence and fatally shot Janvi Maquindang, 21, Christine Aca-ac, 25, Edwin Garcia, 24, and Matthew Montebello, 21.
Sandoval then set the home on fire and fled, prosecutors said.
A 16-year-old inside the residence called 911 and was rescued from a locked bedroom by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies who responded to the scene, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors said Sandoval committed the crimes in retaliation following the end of a relationship with Aca-ac and Maquindang’s brother.
Sandoval is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 17 and will receive life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to the District Attorney’s Office.