Woman who lured man to deadly beatdown in Cathedral City park sentenced
INDIO, Calif. (KESQ) - A 25-year-old woman who lured a man to a Cathedral City Park, where he was fatally assaulted over her bogus accusations that he'd raped her, was sentenced today to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Rena Lizette Alaniz of Thousand Palms was convicted in December of first-degree murder and a special-circumstance allegation of lying in wait for 2020 slaying of 29-year-old Ruben Argentis Mujica of Palm Desert.
During a hearing at the Larson Justice Center in Indio Friday, Riverside County Superior Court Judge James Hawkins imposed the sentence required by law on Alaniz.
Her father, Carlos Antonio Ruiz, 44, of La Quinta, and boyfriend, Andres Moreno, 22, of Cathedral City, were convicted alongside her.
Ruiz was found guilty of first-degree murder and was sentenced in January to 50 years to life in state prison. Moreno was acquitted of the murder count but convicted of assault resulting in great bodily injury and was sentenced in January to five years in prison.
According to a trial brief filed by the District Attorney's office, Alaniz first encountered the victim on Aug. 4, 2020, when she was trawling the dating app Tinder. Mujica agreed to a date with the defendant, and the following day, he and she went back to his house, where ``they drank alcohol, smoked marijuana and engaged in sexual intercourse.''
The victim took her home the next day, but Alaniz was dissatisfied. She began texting Mujica that the "sex was not consensual," alleging he raped her while she was under the influence, according to the brief. Mujica denied the allegation, countering that she "did indeed consent to sex."
Court papers said Alaniz had used Tinder in the past to rendezvous with men whom she and others ultimately robbed. Mujica was not robbed.
He maintained that he had done nothing wrong, but Alaniz remained adamant that he had taken advantage of her and expressed those sentiments to Moreno and Ruiz, who had a prior felony conviction for voluntary manslaughter and was notorious for his hair-trigger temper, according to the brief.
The trio plotted to exact revenge on Mujica based on Alaniz's claims, by "messing him up" and stealing his money and car, according to the prosecution.
She contacted Mujica and arranged to meet him at Century Park in Cathedral City after 9 p.m. on Aug. 6, 2020, ostensibly to make peace and further "discuss the misunderstanding" between them, the brief stated.
The victim and Alaniz met as planned and walked to a gazebo, but after confirming via text that her father and boyfriend had arrived in Ruiz's SUV, the woman made an excuse to leave the gazebo while Mujica waited for her.
Ruiz and Moreno approached the unsuspecting victim from behind and pounced on him, punching and kicking him to the ground, where he spontaneously yelled that he was ``sorry'' for whatever had motivated the attack.
Ruiz later told Cathedral City police detectives that ``at hearing the apology, he got angry and began stabbing the victim ... with a (foldable) knife that he carried with him,'' the brief stated.
An autopsy determined the victim was stabbed a total of 30 times -- in the left and right torso, left elbow and left thigh. The knife tore into his heart, left lung, spleen and stomach.
The trio fled the park, leaving Mujica bleeding and barely conscious. A passer-by walking his dog heard the commotion as the defendants ran away and went to the victim's aid, according to the brief.
Mujica died less than an hour later at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs.
The ensuing homicide investigation quickly turned to the victim's mobile phone communications, enabling detectives to confirm with whom Mujica had been communicating up to the time of the attack. The defendants were tracked down and taken into custody without incident within a month.
Along with manslaughter, Ruiz had priors for receiving stolen property and burglary.
His daughter and Moreno had no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.
