A man who shot and strangled a man in East County in 2023 was sentenced Friday to 216 years to life in prison.
Kenneth McNally, 42, was found guilty of first-degree murder in the slaying of Samuel Holthaus, 59, along with two counts of assault with a semi-automatic firearm, shooting at an inhabited occupied structure/vehicle and assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury.
McNally is a third-strike offender with a lengthy and violent criminal history, according to District Attorney Summer Stephan. At the time of the murder, he was on probation for his second-strike offense after being convicted of attacking a dog with an axe. McNally was also on post-release community supervision for two additional criminal cases: one involving assault and the other resisting an officer with force. His first strike conviction stemmed from a 2004 case, in which he was convicted of assault on a peace officer.
The murder occurred on Sept. 3, 2023, on a 6-acre property in Harbison Canyon, an unincorporated area of El Cajon, where McNally had been staying with acquaintances in a trailer. Earlier that day, the Sheriff’s Office received calls from residents reporting that McNally was aggressively demanding rides off the property while appearing to conceal a weapon beneath a jacket.
According to prosecutors, one witness later told investigators that during a drive near Sloan Canyon Road off Dehesa Road, McNally confessed that he had killed Holthaus and dragged him down a hill with a noose around his neck. A second witness also revealed McNally made a similar confession to her earlier that day. She also reported seeing McNally driving the victim’s truck erratically before parking it near the grave.
Holthaus’ body was discovered buried in a shallow grave later that day.
On Sept. 6, 2023, the sheriff’s Fugitive Task Force located McNally at a motel in El Cajon. Investigators seized the van McNally was riding in and discovered a bag containing bloody clothing. Preliminary analysis showed the majority of the blood on the pants tested positive for McNally’s DNA; only a single bloodstain found on one of the pant legs belonged to Holthaus, prosecutors said.