30 years after Santa Paula double murder, estranged husband sentenced to 2+ life sentences

SANTA PAULA, Calif. - A Santa Paula man was sentenced Wednesday to multiple life sentences for killing his estranged wife and her boyfriend nearly 30 years ago.

Everardo Meza Alamillo, 54, was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole plus 10 years for the murders of Adriana Meza and Armando Cauich Jr., the Ventura County District Attorney's Office announced Wednesday. Alamillo was convicted of their murders in May 2023.

The attack happened back on Oct. 13, 1993. On that day, Alamillo went to visit the daughter he shared with Meza, at their home in Santa Paula. According to the DA's office Meza allowed the visit, despite the fact that the couple was estranged, because she wanted Alamillo to be part of their daughter's life. 

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Alamillo left the house, but came back later that night with a gun. That's when he entered the home through a back door, walked into Meza and Cauich's bedroom and shot them both multiple times while they lay in bed. Alamillo's daughter, who was 2 years old at the time, lay in bed next to her mother during the shooting.

Alamillo was indicted for the murders in 1994, but fled the country to Mexico. He was arrested in 2015 and extradited to the U.S. in 2016.

"I am so grateful to the Santa Paula Police Department, the District Attorney’s Office Bureau of Investigation, and the FBI for investigating the case and never giving up on locating the defendant so that he could be held accountable for these two tragic murders," said Ventura County Senior Deputy District Attorney John Barrick, who prosecuted the case. "The [families] have waited 30 agonizing years for this day. Now they can hopefully rest a little easier knowing that the man who has brought them so much pain will never be released from prison."