Woman sentenced for murder of disabled man

Barbara Owens died in January, less than two months before the woman who helped kill her brother was sent to prison.

On Monday, District Judge Michelle Leavitt ordered Jennifer Mustachia to serve life behind bars without the possibility of parole for the slaying of 47-year-old Edward Turner inside his east valley home in 2015.

Relatives of Turner and Owens, who were in the home when her brother was killed, wept as the judge handed down Mustachia’s sentence.

Mustachia, 38, pleaded guilty in September to murder with a deadly weapon on a vulnerable person, first-degree kidnapping, conspiracy and robbery after prosecutors agreed not to pursue the death penalty. She entered a type of guilty plea that required her to admit only that prosecutors had enough evidence to prove the charges at trial.

During a lengthy sentencing hearing Monday, psychologist Mark Cunningham told the judge that Mustachia was born with fetal alcohol syndrome, suffered from spinal meningitis, and was raped and impregnated by her mother’s ex-husband, who gave her HIV that developed into AIDS. She also had an IQ between 54 and 82.

Defense attorneys Patricia Erickson and Robert Langford had asked the judge to give Mustachia a chance at parole and the opportunity to die of her disease outside of prison walls.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Schwartzer argued that Mustachia had stolen from Owens long before Turner was killed and plotted the robbery that led to his death.

“This was torture — torture for absolutely no reason on the people that are the most vulnerable in our society,” the prosecutor said.

Jamie Zuniga, 34, also pleaded guilty in the case and was sentenced in December to life in prison with eligibility for parole after 30 years. His name also appears as Jaime Zuniga in records.

Doctors told Owens she would die nearly five years ago, around the same time she witnessed her brother’s murder. She suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the neurodegenerative disease known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and at the time of the attack was only able to move one of her arms. Her brother also was disabled.

Owens survived to testify multiple times in court against Mustachia and Zuniga.

Prosecutors have said that Mustachia and Zuniga knocked on the siblings’ front door in March 2015 and attacked Turner when he opened it. Zuniga beat the man with anything he could find, including a hairbrush, a lamp, an ashtray and a crowbar.

Schwartzer said that after beating and restraining Turner, Zuniga left the northeast valley home with a TV while Mustachia stayed behind for hours, during which time she ransacked the home, made meals for herself and changed out of her bloody clothing.

Owens had testified that while Mustachia was still in the home, the woman threatened to cook Turner’s remains and force Owens to eat them.

Mustachia eventually fell asleep, and Owens was able to call for help and escape the home. When police arrived, they arrested Mustachia and found Turner dead.

Another of Turner’s sisters, Monica Tonga, cried on Monday as she spoke of him and remembered how he told her that he had planned to return to New Jersey after Owens died.

“It’s after, and Edward promised me he would be home after,” Tonga said. “That’s what was really stolen from us that day. That’s what makes us broken.”

Mustachia could have departed after Turner was attacked, rather than call 911 and convince operators that the attackers had fled, Tonga said, pondering whether he would have survived if help had arrived sooner.

Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter.