A man accused of killing a 71-year-old National City woman inside her home in an apparently random attack pleaded not guilty Monday to charges that include murder.
Noel Trevino, 30, is accused in last Wednesday’s slaying of Wanda Taylor at her East Division Street home.
Taylor was struck with a rock and stabbed to death, according to prosecutors, who said the victim and defendant were complete strangers to one another.
Deputy District Attorney Bradley Manering said during Trevino’s arraignment on Monday afternoon that Trevino went to the home while posing as a salesman — complete with a clipboard and nametag — and spoke briefly with Taylor that morning.
Taylor later left the home, at which point Trevino spent about an hour circling the property and checking the home’s doors, Manering said in court.
When Taylor returned home, the prosecutor said surveillance footage captured Trevino approaching the victim from behind as she entered the residence while holding a “softball-sized rock.”
Manering said Trevino struck Taylor with the rock at least twice, then used two kitchen knives from the home to kill her.
Trevino then spent more than two hours “ransacking” the victim’s home and taking items, according to Manering.
Taylor’s husband returned home to discover his wife’s body and Trevino still inside the residence, the prosecutor said. Trevino fled, but was arrested a short time later.
He remains in custody without bail.
The murder charge filed against Trevino includes a special-circumstance allegation of lying in wait. If convicted, Trevino faces life in prison without the possibility of parole or capital punishment, should prosecutors pursue the death penalty.