Shawnigan man guilty of 1990 killing in California

A Shawnigan Lake man has been convicted of murdering a wealthy Palm Springs widow 29 years ago.

Jurors found Anthony Michael Kubica guilty of the first-degree murder of 78-yearold Marie Darling, whose decomposing body was discovered in California’s Coachella Valley in 1990, 24 days after she was last seen alive by a neighbour.

City News Service reported that the jury deliberated for one day before finding the 63-yearold guilty. Riverside County Superior Court Judge Timothy Hollenhorst scheduled a hearing for Jan. 10, when a date to sentence Kubica will likely be set.

California Superior Court documents made public last year alleged that Kubica killed Darling for financial gain. Kubica and his wife, Connie Jo Kubica, lived in Palm Springs at the time. Investigators believe that Connie Jo Kubica, who died in 2010, was Darling’s financial adviser and had knowledge of her wealth.

The prosecutor argued that Anthony Kubica emptied Darling’s bank account and used the money to pay down the mortgage on his Palm Springs home, which was facing foreclosure. According to bank records, cash deposits made after Darling’s death allowed Kubica to cover all outstanding mortgage payments.

A year after the killing, a lawyer acting for the Darling family discovered that $184,135 US had been transferred from Darling’s Swiss bank account to the eastern Caribbean British territory of Anguilla. The National Bank of Anguilla account that received the money was opened on May 24, 1990, by Kubica, according to California court documents.

Financial records show Kubica went to the Anguilla bank and withdrew $170,000 in two transactions. He asked the bank to transfer the remaining $130,000 to a Royal Bank of Canada account in his name.

Three years after Darling’s slaying, Riverside sheriff’s investigators searched the Kubica home in Scottsdale, Arizona. They seized receipts, including one for the purchase of duct tape in Palm Springs on June 1, 1990.