Nine years’ prison for DUI driver who killed mother
A man who drove drunk and caused a high-speed Lemon Grove freeway crash that killed a young mother of two was sentenced Tuesday to nine years in state prison.
Isaac Tre Payne, 27, pleaded guilty earlier this year to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and other charges for the crash on Dec. 23, 2022, that killed Leslie Nunez Rosas, 25, of El Cajon.
Prosecutors said that just before 8:30 a.m. that day, Payne struck Rosas’ car on westbound state Route 94, which sent it into a callbox near the College Avenue off-ramp. Rosas’ car then went airborne and overturned. She was ejected and died at the scene.
According to Deputy District Attorney Lynn Crum, Payne then sped off and exited at Kelton Road, where he struck three parked cars.
When officers stopped him, Crum said, he ran from his car but was detained by police, who “smelled an overwhelming odor of alcohol on his person.” He denied drinking and said he last consumed alcohol the night before, according to the prosecutor, who said Payne had a 0.098 percent bloodalcohol content about four hours after the fatal crash.
The victim’s family members told NBC7 last year that Rosas was on her way to work and had Christmas presents for her children in her trunk when the crash occurred. Rosas had a 6-year-old daughter and an 11-monthold son.
Along with manslaughter, Payne pleaded guilty to charges of DUI and hit-and-run causing death. has been acquitted of murder.
An El Cajon Superior Court jury found James Boget, 68, not guilty last week in connection with the slaying of William Mambro, 43, who was found stabbed and strangled Dec. 28, 1983, in the bedroom of his home on Loren Drive.
Boget’s defense attorney could not be reached for comment.
The initial investigation into Mambro’s killing ended in 1984, but a subsequent review of DNA evidence led police to arrest Boget in 2019.
According to court documents, Boget’s DNA was matched to DNA found on cigarette butts at the scene. Boget was also allegedly seen leaving a bar with Mambro on Dec. 24.
Two days later, Boget was arrested on suspicion of possessing a concealed dirk or dagger and was found with multiple knives, cigarettes matching the brand found at Mambro’s home, and Buffalo nickels, which appeared similar to coins found strewn about the crime scene, authorities said.
At the time, Boget denied knowing Mambro and said he had been given the knives and coins by other people, court documents state.
ESCONDIDO
Nearly three decades ago, 30-yearold Phoutune “Taun” Lothirath was killed on Halloween by a gunman posing as a trick-or-treater in Escondido, and detectives are still searching for answers.
On Wednesday, investigators asked for the public’s continued help in finding the killer who fatally shot Lothirath on Oct. 31, 1995, at a home on Upas Street, just east of Interstate 15, Escondido police said in a news release.
The trick-or-treater — wearing a bandanna partially covering his face — knocked on Lothirath’s door, and the man’s 10-year-old son answered, police said.
As the child turned around to get candy from the table to hand out, the gunman entered the home.
He ordered the boy to the back of the house.
The gunman then shot the boy’s father, police said.
Investigators said one gun was used to shoot Lothirath, and then another — possibly fired by a second shooter — was fired into the home through an outside window.
The gunman fled and was seen by a witness running to a nearby alley to jump into a dark blue or black import vehicle, similar to a Toyota, police said.
Police believe the gunman could have been known to Lothirath.
Investigators asked anyone with information about the shooting to call the Escondido homicide unit at (760) 839-4974 or the Crime Stoppers anonymous tip line at (888) 580-8477.
A motorist suffered serious burns Wednesday when the vehicle he was driving crashed into an unoccupied home in Tierrasanta, rupturing a natural gas line and setting the fumes ablaze.
Thecrash happened about noon on Gabacho Drive, just east of Santo Road and south of state Route 52, according to the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.
Paramedics took the driver to UCSD Medical Center in Hillcrest for treatment of burns, the city agency reported.
The extent of structural damage to the home was not immediately clear.
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