BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Shortly after returning from a shopping trip, Victor Farias Jr. grabbed a kitchen knife and began inflicting the first of nearly two dozen stab wounds on the mother of his two young daughters.
The girls, 4 and 6, were home during the incident. The 6-year-old was captured on a doorbell camera running from the apartment, followed by her father. She told him, “Stop! Stop doing that!”
Farias left, but the damage was done. Yolanda Rojo, 30, bled out on the kitchen floor.
On Monday, Farias, 34, was in court to be sentenced to a life term in prison after being found guilty of murder and other crimes.
17 News is live blogging the proceedings.
Rojo was killed the night of March 20 at Shadow Ridge Apartments in the 7000 block of College Avenue.
Farias didn’t live at the apartment, but he’d gone shopping with Rojo and their daughters earlier that evening. A Ring camera captured Farias enter her apartment with her after the shopping trip.
Later, the camera recorded screams and loud noises coming from inside. It shows the 6-year-old run outside followed by Farias, who calls to her to return.
She yells at him to stop and Farias flees. She reenters the apartment, her voice shaking, asking her mom if she’s OK. There’s no response.
The girl and her sister ran to a neighbor for help. When police arrived, they found Rojo motionless and covered in blood on the kitchen floor, her pulse faint.
She was rushed to Kern Medical, where she was pronounced dead.
Farias fled in a black Nissan Altima before police arrived. The car collided with a big rig on Highway 58 near Tehachapi, where Farias abandoned it then walked into the city. He was arrested hours later on Tucker Road.
At trial, prosecutor Leanne Wilder said Farias had the intent to kill with each thrust of the knife, continuing to stab Rojo as she tried to move away and fight him off. She noted numerous defensive wounds were found on Rojo’s hands.
Assistant Public Defender Teryl Wakeman didn’t deny his client was the killer. But he argued Farias acted impulsively and without premeditation, saying at trial the lesser charge of second-degree murder was appropriate.
This article will be updated.
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