A Turlock woman has been convicted of fatally stabbing her neighbor and injuring her daughter and is set for sentencing in March.
Maribel, Gonzalez, 41, entered a no contest plea to charges of voluntary manslaughter and assault with a deadly weapon for the March 27, 2016 attack that claimed the life of Eva Gallardo, 44. Gonzalez also admitted to using a knife during the attack and violating her felony probation for another crime.
In exchange for the plea, Gonzalez will be sentenced to the maximum term for manslaughter for a total of 14 years and 4 months in state prison.
Gonzalez came to Gallardo’s home in the 700 block of W. Olive Avenue late that night and began banging on the front door. Both Gallardo and her daughter, who was 26 years old at the time, went to the front door and Gonzalez began yelling at them.
According to the Turlock Police Department, Gonzalez had been looking for a missing cell phone and believed someone in Gallardo’s home had taken it. Neither of the women knew Gonzalez or had any information about her missing cellphone.
The encounter quickly escalated into physical violence when Gonzalez lunged at the two women, stabbing each of them with a knife.
Both women were rushed to the hospital. Gallardo’s injuries proved to be fatal and she died two days after the attack at the hospital. The daughter was treated and released for her injuries.
A witness to the stabbing followed Gonzalez after the attack and was able to lead Turlock Police officers to her location. She was taken into custody four blocks from the stabbing.
At the time of the attack Gonzalez was on probation for a 2013 conviction on a charge of willful cruelty to a child causing possible injury and/or death. She entered a no contest plea to the charge in 2014 and was sentenced to probation. She had three probation violations since that time with the last occurring on March 17, 2016, according to Stanislaus County Superior Court records.
Gonzalez is set to be sentenced at 8:30 a.m. March 8 in Stanislaus County Superior Court.
