Overview
- A judge sentenced Angela Beth Onduto to six years in state prison in late June 2026 after she pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter in April.
- Police found a newborn girl in a Union City apartment-complex dumpster on May 18, 2009, and named her Matea Esperanza while the case remained unsolved for years.
- Detectives used new parental-DNA testing in 2025 to identify possible parents, obtained a DNA sample from Onduto in Denver that produced a parental match, and tied her to the scene with a Costco receipt found in the dumpster.
- Onduto was arrested, extradited to Alameda County, had her physical therapy license revoked during proceedings, and court records credit her with 365 days plus 54 days already served; she is being held at Santa Rita Jail pending transfer to a women’s prison.
- The case highlights how advancing DNA methods can reopen cold cases by linking family relationships to evidence and leaves unanswered questions about the baby’s father and the full circumstances of the death.