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A 37-year-old transient was convicted Tuesday of killing a homeless woman
and then decapitating her and burying her in the backyard of his family’s
home in Huntington Beach.

Antonio Padilla was convicted of second-degree murder in the June 30,
2022, killing of 60-year-old Regina “Gina” Marie Lockhart.

Lockhart was a “well-known transient” in the city, Senior Deputy District Attorney Janine Madera told jurors in her opening statement of Padilla’s
trial.

“She frequented Beach Boulevard and Slater Avenue,” Madera added. “She was
a veritable fixture.”

Lockhart was also an alcoholic who visited the local emergency room
multiple times before her death, Madera said. She sought treatment for
alcohol poisoning and injuries from falls, she added.

Lockhart was in “regular phone contact” with her mother, Donna Ashbaugh,
Madera said. She had a boyfriend, Rick Bernhardt, who was also homeless,
the prosecutor added.

Lockhart was last seen on surveillance video at about 9 a.m. the day of
her death at Primo Liquor, at a Walgreens and a Chevron station, Madera
said.

Emilia Martinez Jaramillo, who worked in a taco food truck, saw Lockhart
at about 4:30 p.m. that day, Madera said. Lockhart appeared to be in
distress, so Jaramillo “asked her if she needed any help and the victim
kept walking” away, Madera said.

Padilla was also a transient and would sometimes flop at his parents’
backyard shed for their double-wide trailer home at 7850 Slater Ave., near Beach Boulevard, Madera said.

Padilla’s mother, Rosario Cendejas, began noticing a fetid odor around the
shed on the July Fourth weekend, according to Madera. The defendant’s
sister, Lolita Guevara, who also lived in the family’s mobile home,
started sniffing the foul odor around July 7 or July 8, she added.

She also noticed about that time that her brother had shaved his head,
Madera said.

In her closing argument, Madera said the body had to have been hidden
before it was buried.

“It might have been that he hid her in that trash can, possibly behind the dryer,” Madera said. “And only the defendant was strong enough to move the dryer.”

The large dryer would have obscured the trash can from his family, Madera argued. The victim was hog-tied to fit her in the trash can, Madera
argued.

On July 10, the defendant’s mother saw him digging a hole in the backyard
and also heard “loud noises” in the metal shed, Madera said. The defendant
was attempting to fill the hole with concrete and the smell worsened,
Madera said.

When Padilla’s mother questioned him about maggot-infested bloody blankets
he was holding he “threatened her,” prompting Cendejas to call 911, Madera said.

When officers responded and checked the backyard they told Padilla’s
mother and sister the source of the foul smell was probably a dead animal
and advised them to clean the shed.

Cendejas went to work on cleaning the shed, using bleach on the ground
that wiped out some forensic evidence, but investigators were later able
to recover the victim’s DNA on it, Madera said. The defendant’s mother
also found a patch of scalp with hair that was from the victim, Madera
said.

Cendejas also found some old Vans shoes missing laces, the prosecutor
said. She again called police on July 16 and when she told officers about
her son’s digging they began investigating and “unearthed the body,”
Madera said.

Lockhart was hog-tied with the shoe laces “and she had been decapitated,” Madera said. “Her head was found underneath her body.”

Investigators found a knife in the shed that had the DNA of the defendant
and the victim, Madera said. The decapitation was a “clean cut,” meaning
the head was slashed off without “hesitation,” Madera said.

Investigators believe the victim was decapitated and hog-tied after she
had died, Madera said.

The pathologist who examined the body “ruled out” natural causes for the
death such as liver disease and other maladies associated with alcoholism, Madera said. The pathologist could not rule out suffocation or
strangulation as possible causes of death, she added.

The beheading made it difficult for the experts to determine if the victim
had been choked to death, Madera said.

When police questioned Padilla he was dishonest and “tried to distance
himself from the shed,” and “denied smelling any odor” and “denied talking
to his mother about the odor,” Madera said.

The defendant’s sister, Lolita Guevara, last year told investigators she recalled hearing “screaming” from someone with a “raspy voice” before the
awful smell surfaced, Madera said.

“The sound was quickly muffled,” Madera said. “She was so upset she
circled the date on her calendar and told her husband about it.” But she
didn’t tell investigators about it when the body was found, Madera said.

On March 12, 2024, the defendant posted crime scene photos of the victim’s
head and decapitated body on his jail cell “as a trophy,” Madera said.

Defense attorney Daniel Kim of the Orange County Public Defender’s Office
told jurors in his opening statement, “This is a tough case” that will be “disturbing and difficult to process.”

After hearing all the evidence, jurors will be left with a “lingering
question — how did Ms. Lockhart die?” Kim said.

Dr. Aruna Singhania of the Orange County Coroner’s Office listed the cause
of death as “undetermined,” Kim said.

“She noted no signs of struggle, no signs of external trauma” on the body,
Kim said.

Lockhart’s “health was deteriorating,” Kim said.

In one of her hospital visits prior to her death she suffered seizures for
two minutes and had to be stabilized with medication before her release,
Kim said. She sought aid for alcohol poisoning and overdose on June 24,
2022, Kim said.

Lockhart was back in an emergency room again on June 25 and June 26, 2022,
Kim said.

In the last surveillance video to capture footage of the victim she was
seen toting two liters of vodka, Kim said. When the food truck employee
saw her the victim was clutching her stomach in pain, Kim added.

When officers came out to investigate the calls to 911 about Padilla they
saw the defendant’s father, Mario Padilla, in the shed moving things
around, Kim said. Mario Padilla was seen removing boxes from the shed on
July 11, 2022, Kim alleged.

The metal shed was Mario Padilla’s “man cave,” with two televisions and a
chair for him, Kim said.

“He is the primary occupant of the shed,” Kim said.

Antonio Padilla, who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, occasionally
would sleep in the shed, Kim said.

Mario Padilla also planted a tomato tree on top of where the body was
found, Kim said.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Gary Paer will hold a hearing Wednesday afternoon to consider the defendant’s prior strike conviction and
aggravating factors in the crime. Sentencing is scheduled for April 11.

https://mynewsla.com/crime/2025/02/18/transient-convicted-in-killing- decapitation-of-homeless-woman-in-hb/

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