Man convicted of murdering woman found buried at Huntington Beach mobile home

A jury found a Huntington Beach man guilty Tuesday of murdering a homeless woman who was buried in the yard of his family’s mobile home in 2022.

Anthony Padilla was convicted of second degree murder in connection with the death of Gina Marie Lockhart. She was living on the street in the area of Beach Boulevard and Slater Avenue and was last seen three years ago on either June 29 or 30.

None of the over 30 witnesses brought forth during trial were able to testify to the victim’s whereabouts in the hours leading up to her death. There appeared to be no prior connection between her and Padilla. Prosecutors did not suggest a motive for her killing.

Reports of a foul odor at the nearby Maple Ridge Mobile Homes led to the discovery of Lockhart’s body on July 17. She had been hogtied with a pair of shoelaces and decapitated.

The latter likely took place after she died, according to forensic experts. They were unable to identify any broken bones, bruises, scratches or other injuries indicating a struggle on her partially decayed body. Her cause of death was not conclusively determined.

Padilla’s sister, Lolita Guevara, told police she saw him digging a roughly 5-foot-wide hole in the yard on July 10. Later that day his mother, Rosario Cendejas, confronted him as he was carrying bags with blankets that appeared to be covered with bloodstains and maggots. He fled when she called the police.

Officers initially dismissed the smell as coming from a dead animal and advised the residents to deep-clean the area. When Cendejas attempted to tidy up the shed she found women’s clothing that was too small for anyone living with them, Vans shoes that were missing laces, long hair that was still attached to a piece of someone’s scalp and a large knife with blood on it.

Lab tests later determined that Lockhart’s blood was on the blade and Padilla’s on the handle.

Prosecutors alleged Padilla used the knife to cut off the victim’s head, destroying any signs of strangulation on her body in the process. However, defense attorneys noted that there was no physical evidence confirming Lockhart’s cause of death. She had been hospitalized for seizures and alcohol poisoning numerous times in the month before she died.

Padilla’s defense attorney argued that Lockhart could have died of natural causes and added that a warrant for Padilla’s arrest was active at the time, which is why he decided to hide the body instead of reporting it to authorities.

“You don’t go to those lengths and do that,” Janine Madera, senior prosecutor for the Orange County district attorney’s office, countered during closing statements. “You just don’t, unless you’re hiding a murder.”