A Fresno man has pleaded guilty to murdering an Arroyo Grande woman in 2020 and now faces life in prison.
District Attorney Dan Dow announced Oct. 10 that Kayonie Eliaz Mendibles, 21 of Fresno “pled guilty to first degree murder in the November 2020 killing of Marion Jeanine Vore. He faces 25-years to life in state prison at his Jan. 9 sentencing date.”
Vore was discovered murdered sometime in the late afternoon of Nov. 27 at her rural Arroyo Grande home.
According to a news release from the Sheriff’s Department dated Nov. 28, 2020, the previous day at about 5:08 p.m. they received a report of someone trespassing in the 2000 block of Chamisal Ln. in rural Arroyo Grande.
The deputies who responded also checked on the elderly resident of the home near the area where the trespasser was reported. That welfare check led to the discovery of Vore, 77, who was inside the home and had been murdered.
Deputies identified a suspect that witnesses had seen fleeing the area in a vehicle and sent out an alert. Shortly before 10 p.m. deputies in South County spotted the suspect vehicle driving through Arroyo Grande.
They conducted a “high-risk” traffic stop on Hwy 101 near the 4th Street exit in Pismo Beach and Mendibles, who was just 18 at the time, was arrested and charged with Vore’s murder.
With the suspect now behind bars, the D.A. said the sentencing hearing is set for Jan. 9 in SLO Superior Court. The case was investigated by the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office and prosecuted by Deputy D.A. Julie Antos.
