A Bay Area man who prosecutors said drove from Oakland to San Diego County to ambush and fatally stab his estranged wife outside her apartment was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Kandynn Taylor Wilson, 34, was convicted by an El Cajon Superior Court jury of first-degree murder in the death of Ericka Joyce Wilson, 29, who was attacked Jan. 27, 2022, in the parking lot of her Spring Valley apartment complex.
Jurors also found true a special circumstance allegation that Wilson was lying in wait, along with an allegation that he used a knife in the killing.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Wilson was working as a warehouse associate at Benjamin Moore & Co. at the time.
The case drew attention because of the planning prosecutors described in court filings. Wilson requested time off from work, drove roughly eight hours from Oakland and waited for Ericka Wilson after she returned home from work, according to a prosecution sentencing brief.
The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said deputies were called to an apartment complex after receiving a report of a woman calling for help. Deputies found Ericka Wilson unresponsive in the parking lot with traumatic injuries, and firefighters and deputies tried to save her, the department said.
She was pronounced dead at the scene. The Medical Examiner’s Office later determined she died from multiple stab wounds and ruled the death a homicide.
Prosecutors said Kandynn Wilson stabbed Ericka Wilson 23 times in the neck after months of planning. The couple had been separated for about two years after a six-year marriage that included multiple incidents of domestic violence, prosecutors said.
According to the prosecution sentencing brief, Wilson first tried to buy a gun and later asked for vacation time that included the date of the killing. The day before the attack, prosecutors said, he drove from Oakland to San Diego County.
Ericka Wilson worked at Ross stores in Spring Valley and Santee, prosecutors said. On the night of the killing, Kandynn Wilson drove to both stores looking for her, then went to her apartment complex after she did not leave the Spring Valley store, according to the sentencing brief.
Prosecutors said Wilson parked at the complex and waited for her to pull into her assigned parking spot. He attacked while wearing a mask and gloves, according to the brief.
A neighbor who heard Ericka Wilson screaming chased Kandynn Wilson away with a baseball bat, prosecutors said. Other neighbors prevented him from leaving in his vehicle, and he ran from the complex, according to the prosecution account.
Sheriff’s investigators found and arrested Wilson a few blocks from the scene. Prosecutors said he was arrested about four hours later at a 7-Eleven about a quarter-mile away.
The prosecution brief said Wilson’s car keys were found near Ericka Wilson’s body and that he had blood on his hands and clothing when he was arrested.
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This article originally published at Oakland man who took vacation time from work to kill estranged wife sentenced to life.