Borrego Springs Man Who Killed and Dismembered Own Mother Sentenced

San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan announced today that a 44-year-old man who murdered his mother, cut off her hands and leg and then hid her body in his closet has been sentenced to 25 years-to-life in prison.

Jacob P. Guevara, who was found guilty of first-degree murder by a jury in September, was his mother’s caretaker and living with her in a two-bedroom duplex in Borrego Springs, when he killed Leona Guevara, 63.

“This was a despicable and gruesome murder,” DA Stephan said. “To callously murder the woman who gave birth to you and then dismember and hide her in a closet is heinous. There is no place in society for this kind of person, and I hope today’s sentence brings a measure of justice for the victim’s family.”

In November 2023, Sheriff’s deputies performed a wellness check on victim Leona Guevara at the request of her daughter. Guevara told the responding deputy his mother had gone to a friend’s house or for a walk; however, the deputy located blood stains on the floor of Leona Guevara’s room. The deputy then searched the defendant’s room and located the victim’s body piled under trash in the closet. Guevara had cut off her hands, boiled them, and put them in a plastic bag. He had also amputated one of her legs and put that in a trash bag as well. In an interview with detectives, the defendant denied knowing his mother was dead and blamed a transient that had been staying with them.

At trial, the defendant testified that his mother was mentally ill and had come at him with a knife, so he had killed her in self-defense.

Deputy District Attorney Kelsey Hollander prosecuted this case.

Click here to see the emotional impact statements from the victim’s two daughters at today’s sentencing hearing.