Lisa Gonzales, San Francisco, California landlord convicted of killing and dismembering roommate, Margaret Mamer after failing to come up with her share of rent for their Mission District apartment.
A woman has been found guilty of killing and dismembering her roommate in San Francisco, California after the victim failing to pay rent.
Prosecutors had argued that Lisa Gonzales, 55, in 2018 had dismembered 61-year-old Margaret Mamer and stuffed her into a basement storage bin after the roommate failing to come up with her share of the rent. The motive for the killing was determined to be frustration over ‘unpaid rent’.
Gonzales who was convicted of second degree murder faces 16 years to life in prison, according to San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
Welfare check for missing San Francisco roommate leads to macabre discovery
When police showed up at a home on 14th Street in the city’s Mission District in June 2018, Gonzales opened the door and invited them in. Officers were trying to contact Mamer. Her friends and family had called police to conduct a welfare check.
‘San Francisco police discovered the victim dismembered and in a storage unit of the building in which they had lived,’ Jenkins said according to NBC Bay Area.
Mamer’s remains were located in plastic bags and a bin in the basement of the building. Court documents released when Gonzales was first arraigned described remnants of a body which had been chopped or sawed up and stuffed into plastic bags.
An autopsy revealed the victim died as a result of multiple sharp force injuries to her head and heart, including on her face and skull.
Victim had been renting room for $400 per month
According to court documents, starting in August 2017, Gonzales rented a room to Mamer and charged her only $400 per month after learning that Mamer had recently lost her home and fallen on hard times. However, by December, Gonzales became frustrated after things around the house started to go missing or were misplaced.
Gonzales allegedly asked Mamer to move out, but Mamer stayed in the apartment and around mid-April, Gonzales gave her a 30-day notice to leave. Mamer, however, did not leave, according to court documents. When she was told of the various ways she could legally evict her, Gonzales responded, ‘No thanks, I’ll do it my way,’ according to prosecutors.
The case circulated through the criminal court system for eight years. Jenkins said it was marked by several delays from the defense – as part of defense strategy wrangling.
‘Sometimes they realize that our cases have very strong evidence and that the best advantage that they can gain is to delay so that memories fade, so that we lose contact with witnesses, so that oftentimes witnesses or the families of victims become very frustrated and uncooperative,’ Jenkins said. ‘So it works to their advantage.’
At the time of her arrest, Gonzales’ public defender, Alex Lilian, said she was frustrated with Mamer over unpaid rent.
‘When Ms. Gonzales took in Ms. Mamer, she didn’t know her terribly well,’ Lilian said in 2018. ‘I don’t believe she knew that she had a history of not paying rent. I’m not saying that’s a justification for anything. That’s just what I know so far.’
In a statement Wednesday, Lilian said Gonzales feared she would lose her home, where she had lived with her family since the 1960s, and that she had snapped.
