Overview
- Judge Teresa Caffese sentenced Lisa Gonzales to 31 years to life on Monday after a jury found her guilty in April of second-degree murder by use of a deadly weapon.
- Prosecutors say Gonzales killed 61-year-old Margaret Mamer during a housing dispute and hid the dismembered remains in a blue plastic container found in the building’s storage area.
- Investigators relied on an autopsy that recorded multiple sharp‑force injuries to Mamer’s face, head and chest and on crime‑scene analysis that detected blood spatter in Gonzales’s bathroom despite attempts to clean.
- Trial testimony included a third roommate’s account of hours‑long sawing noises, a metallic smell, discovery of a hacksaw, and Gonzales’s remark that Mamer had 'left, but not the way she wanted to.'
- The case began after friends reported Mamer missing and a tipster told police about the alleged killing, a chain of events prosecutors say helped uncover the remains and secure the conviction.