Front Page  »  

Man gets 25 years to life for elderly Arroyo Grande woman’s murder

January 10, 2024

Kayonie Eliaz Mendibles

By JOSH FRIEDMAN

A judge sentenced a Fresno man on Tuesday to 25 years to life in prison for the murder of an elderly woman whom he killed in her rural Arroyo Grande home. [KSBY]

On Nov. 27, 2020, while responding to reports of a possible trespass at a home in the 2000 block of Chamisal Lane, San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s deputies found blood on the stairs and the body of Marion Jeanine Vore, 77. Vore had been strangled with a belt and had suffered a traumatic brain injury.

A neighbor later identified the man he saw jump a fence and enter Vore’s yard as Kayonie Eliaz Mendibles, now 21. Hours later, at the time of his arrest, Mendibles had blood on his boots and the victim’s car key fob in his pocket.

Mendibles turned 18 just three weeks before the murder. 

San Luis Obispo County prosecutors charged Mendibles with murder and an enhancement for using a deadly weapon, in this case a belt. He initial pleaded not guilty.

During a preliminary hearing in the case, a deputy testified that while Mendibles was being interrogated, he repeatedly asked, “How did you know it was me?”

In Oct. 2023, Mendibles pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. Then during Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, Mendibles gave a statement saying he was on LSD when he killed Vore. Mendibles apologized to the victim’s family. 

Chelsea Neal, Vore’s daughter, said she still receives phone calls on her mother’s birthday from friends of hers who are trying to grasp that she will never answer the phone again.

Judge Michael Frye said the crime was senseless and that Mendibles is detached from reality, before sentencing the Fresno man to 25 years to life in prison. 

 


Loading...
Subjects:             
Related:


7 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Instead of looking at the murderous monster’s face, it would be nice to include a photo of the victim, Ms. Vore.

KSBY had a short segment about her in 2020. https://www.ksby.com/news/local-news/loved-ones-remember-arroyo-grande-woman-as-suspicious-death-investigation-continues


She seemed like a caring woman who loved her friends, family, nature and animals. RIP.


21

Good to hear. I hope he never sees another day of freedom.


22

She was a very sweet and kind person and he deserves to be put in GP in the prison system.


18

It’s a shame that Mendibles didn’t stop using drugs and enlist in the military immediately after turning 18 instead of pursuing stupidity. He wouldn’t have ruined his life or savagely extinguished that of an innocent beautiful elderly woman. The person/s who supplied Mendibles with LSD and all other illicit drugs he ever used are fully complicit in the murder of Marion Vore and deserve the exact same punishment as adjudicated for murderer Mendibles.


1

25 yrs is not enough should be life without parole don’t care what drug he was on.


40

Absolutely, life without possibility of parole. Lots of people have taken LSD, that’s not even a factor.


13

You are not privy to what was or was not a factor. Stop making excuses and acting as an apologist for use of illicit drugs. You have no idea what terror, criminality and tragedy has been inflicted on innocents by the morons who engage in illicit drug use.


-17