Roommate convicted in killing of Foothill Farms woman

A man was convicted of first-degree murder Tuesday in the 2017 killing of a 28-year-old Foothill Farms woman.

Teris Vinson, 27, faces 80 years to life in prison for murder and two counts of felony firearm possession after the body of Janet Mejia was found on April 13, 2017, wrapped in an inflatable mattress and hidden in bushes in south Placer County, according to a news release issued by the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office.

Mejia left her family’s Stockton home on April 10, 2017, and didn’t show up for work and a doctor’s appointment afterward. She had been living with Vinson and another woman, who reported her missing on April 11. Detectives found her car abandoned in Arden Arcade two days later and her body the following on the side of the road by Watt Avenue and Dyer Lane near the Sacramento-placer County line, according to previous reporting by The Bee.

Vinson was arrested on April 17, 2017, for weapons violations following an interrogation where detectives discovered that he possessed firearms, according to previous reporting by The Bee.

Detectives for the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office discovered Mejia’s DNA on the muzzle of one of Vinson’s guns, which the ex-convict owned illegally, according to the release.

During their investigation, detectives found Mejia’s blood in the carpet padding of her bedroom, according to the release.

Mejia, an American sign language and deaf studies graduate of Sacramento State, had been strangled and shot in the back of the head, according to the release.

She had been working at a Nordstrom department store in Roseville while looking for a job in her field, according to previous reporting by the Bee.

– Appeal-democrat news services