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

January 10, 2024

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.