Riverside Woman Who Stabbed Boyfriend 24 Times Then Dismembered Him Is Sentenced: DA

By Melissa Pamer - Ktla.com

September 29, 2014

A 54-year-old Riverside woman who was found pushing a trash can containing her boyfriend’s body parts down the street was sentenced Monday to 26 year to life in state prison.

Carmen Montelongo was convicted Aug. 29 of first-degree murder in the 2011 stabbing death and dismemberment of her 62-year-old boyfriend, Samuel Wiggins, according to the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office.

More than five weeks after Wiggins, of Diamond Bar, was reporting missing by his family, Montelongo was caught by police officers as she moved some of his remains in a garbage can through a residential neighborhood in Ontario.

During the investigation into Wiggins’ disappearance, Montelongo told police she was regularly in contact with him. Meanwhile, she dismembered his body, placing his head and arms in potted plants that were later found in Bell Gardens, according to the DA’s office.

The legs and torso were found buried in Ontario at the home where Montelongo was apprehended, the DA’s office stated.

Investigators from the Ontario Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department found that Wiggins was stabbed to death in his home in Diamond Bar — twice in the chest and 22 times in the back.

“We are pleased that the jury saw the case for what it was — a heinous crime — and that justice was served for the victim and his family,” said Deputy District Attorney Erica Gallegos in a news release.

A mistrial had been granted in the case in January, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin reported at the time.

 

Judge grants mistrial in Ontario killing, dismembering case

By Greg Cappis, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

January 29, 2014

A mistrial was granted on Wednesday to a 46-year-old Riverside woman accused of killing and dismembering her ex-boyfriend and burying parts of his body behind an Ontario home in 2011.

On April 20, 2011, Carmen Montelongo, also known as Carmen Montenegro, pleaded not guilty in West Valley Superior Court in Rancho Cucamonga to murdering Samuel Wiggins Jr. of Diamond Bar. He was 62 at the time of his death.

On Wednesday, West Valley Superior Court Judge Gregory Tavill granted the mistrial sought by the defense, which was objected by Erica Gallegos, deputy district attorney. A jury had already been selected.

“There were some pretrial motions that were brought to the judge by the defense counsel, and the judge granted their motion for a mistrial,” Gallegos said by phone.

She declined to comment on the specifics “because we are still going forward with the trial. I would rather not disclose those issues. They could possibly taint a new jury.”

Montelongo’s public defender, Rebecca Taft, was not able to be reached by phone for comment.

The case is scheduled to restart on Feb. 13 with a pretrial hearing. Jury trial will likely begin Feb. 24.

Police arrested Montelongo on May 29, 2011, in Ontario after she was found transporting a trash can containing parts of a human body, believed to belong to Wiggins, authorities said.

At a pretrial hearing in October 2012, witnesses told the court Montelongo exhumed Wiggins’ remains from a hole in the backyard of a home near the location of her arrest. She casually tossed body parts into a trash can and covered them with dirt, her second cousin, Matthew Bell, testified.

Wiggins’ head and arms were found four days after Montelongo’s arrest inside large flower pots at a house rented by Montelongo’s cousin in Bell Gardens, about 36 miles away from the Ontario home where other body parts reportedly were buried.

 

Carmen Montenegro: Money And Sexual Abuse As Motives

By Gillian Flaccus - HuffingtonPost.com

June 3, 2011

LOS ANGELES -- Prosecutors said Friday they will not file criminal charges against the two adult children of a woman who authorities say stabbed her ex-boyfriend to death, dismembered his body and wheeled some of the parts down a suburban Southern California street in a 30-gallon trash can.

The decision means that Daniel Ortiz, 25, and Chanel Alicia Ortiz, 26, both of Riverside, will be released from a San Bernardino County jail as early as Friday evening, said Deputy District Attorney Erica Gallegos. She declined to say why authorities were not charging the two, who were arrested earlier in the week on suspicion of helping their mother dispose of the remains.

Their mother, Carmen Montenegro, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the death of her ex-boyfriend, Samuel Wiggins Jr. The 63-year-old was last seen around April 20 and was officially reported missing by his family in early May, authorities have said.

Authorities said their suspect also has a criminal history under the name Carmen Montelongo and used both names, but charging documents in the current case list her last name as Montenegro. Gallegos said Friday she believes the woman's true last name is Montelongo but that a judge would determine her identity at a future court hearing and an alias could be added to the charging documents.

Montenegro was arrested on Sunday after neighbors reported a woman pushing a trash can containing body parts down a street in Ontario, a city about 40 miles east of Los Angeles.

Police found a torso and legs at the address, which was the home of some of Montenegro's relatives, and later discovered a head and arms in two large flower pots that Montenegro and her son delivered on Mother's Day to another relative's address in Bell Gardens, near Los Angeles, said David Hidalgo, supervisor of the district attorney's family violence unit.

"It's hard to comprehend that someone could be so callous and pushing body parts down the street in a trash can like it was nothing," Hidalgo said. "She was desperate and she was looking for people to help her dispose of the body."

Authorities believe Montenegro killed Wiggins at his home in Diamond Bar, in Los Angeles County, and then transported the remains to her relative's home in Ontario, where she buried the body parts. She dug several deep holes and told relatives she was re-doing the garden, Hidalgo said.

Investigators have also discovered carpet at a home in Riverside where Montenegro was renting storage space, Hidalgo said. The carpet was in a large cardboard box that was used to deliver a sofa and is believed to have come from the victim's house, he said.

A family member of Montenegro, Matthew Bell, told The San Bernardino Sun that he saw Montenegro in a hole in the backyard of his grandmother's house on Sunday. He said he also saw her throw body parts in the trash can and that she offered him $5,000 to help dispose of the remains.

Bell said he instead went to call police and that Montenegro followed him with the trash can, still pleading for help.

She was arrested about 200 yards from the home.

Authorities are pursuing several theories for a motive and continue to investigate. Investigators have surveillance video showing Montenegro, 51, using credit and ATM cards belonging to Wiggins after he disappeared and Montenegro also used Wiggins' car in the days after his disappearance, Hidalgo said.

Montenegro also told police that she had been sexually abused and authorities are also considering that as a possible motive, he said.

 

Carmen Montelongo

Carmen Montelongo