California – In a chilling case in California, a 39-year-old man, identified as C. Charron, who had a troubling history of violence against women, has been convicted of brutally killing his 25-year-old girlfriend, identified as L. Sardinha, just hours after she changed the locks to keep him out of her apartment. He was found guilty of first-degree murder for the 2020 stabbing death of Sardinha, his 25-year-old girlfriend, whom he attacked while she was on the phone, prosecutors revealed.
The chilling case revealed disturbing details of manipulation, control, and a terrifying end to Sardinha’s efforts to break free from her violent relationship. The conviction came after a brief jury deliberation. Prosecutors laid out overwhelming evidence during the trial, noting that Sardinha was not the only woman who had sought protection from Charron. In fact, multiple women had obtained restraining orders against him prior to Sardinha’s murder. During the trial, three of those women testified about Charron’s violent past, describing incidents in which he slapped, choked, and abused them while in relationships.
The case showed how Sardinha had become trapped in a dangerous cycle. Prosecutors revealed that in the months leading up to her death, Sardinha had been carefully documenting Charron’s increasingly threatening behavior. On the very morning of her murder, Sardinha had recorded a disturbing conversation in which she begged Charron to leave her alone.
On September 2, 2020, Sardinha took the critical step of changing the locks to keep Charron out of her apartment. According to testimony, she visited the leasing office for help that very morning. The apartment manager even allowed Sardinha to hide in the office while escorting Charron away. The locks were changed soon after. However, Charron refused to give up. He continued attempting to contact Sardinha through phone calls, which she ignored. Despite her efforts to secure her home and protect herself, tragedy struck just hours later.
Hours after she had the locks of her apartment changed, Sardinha called both her mother and best friend. While on the phone, the unimaginable happened — Charron somehow entered the apartment. Sardinha’s terrified reaction was recorded. “Oh my God, he’s here!” she said before the call ended abruptly. A friend, now alarmed, immediately called 911. Meanwhile, Sardinha placed another call that tragically went to voicemail. What followed was harrowing. The voicemail captured Sardinha’s final moments as she screamed, “He’s gonna kill me!” and “Get away from me!” Prosecutors described it as “a woman narrating her own murder.”
During the savage attack, Charron stabbed Sardinha multiple times in the chest and face using several knives, according to prosecutors. When police arrived, Sardinha had already succumbed to her injuries. After the murder, Charron tried to stage the scene to make it look like self-defense. He inflicted stab wounds on himself and, when on the stand, claimed the event was a blur. “I didn’t quite comprehend what was happening in the moment. It’s taking me a second to understand I’m being cut up,” he testified. However, prosecutors pointed out the flaws in his story. They argued Sardinha, who had previously suffered a motorcycle injury that left her too weak to even cut lemons for work, could not have attacked Charron.
Prosecutors dismissed the idea of mutual combat, saying Charron “was the aggressor 100% of the time.” His silence during the brutal attack, captured on the voicemail recording, was called “absolutely deafening” as he methodically killed Sardinha. Jurors took less than a day to convict Charron of first-degree murder, sealing his fate. He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 25, when he faces the prospect of spending the rest of his life behind bars. For Sardinha’s family and loved ones, the conviction offers justice, but it comes too late to save a young woman whose desperate attempts to escape a violent man ended in a nightmare.
