A California man has confessed to shooting his ex-girlfriend, who was discovered fatally injured in a vehicle accident a few days after she had confided in him and ended all communication.
Faith Elizabeth Valenzuela, 29, died last Wednesday, and Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine M. Pacioni sent a news release announcing that 24-year-old Jacob Anthony Bustamante had entered a guilty plea to second-degree murder.
Prosecutors alleged that the events leading up to the carnage began on July 5, 2022, at 2:53 a.m., when Bustamante—who was purportedly identified as “Ace” on Valenzuela’s phone—texted her asking to be picked up for a trip. Over a hundred miles south of San Francisco, she picked him up in the vicinity of Salinas’ downtown.
Bustamante shot her from the passenger seat of the car seventeen minutes after he had initially contacted her about the journey. He was using a 9 mm semiautomatic ghost gun. The vehicle struck a wooden fence that was behind a house. According to officials, Bustamante ran away, leaving behind the gun, a magazine containing ammunition, and a pair of cotton gloves.
A police squad car was leaving a hospital when it discovered the single-car crash on Natividad Road and Lunsford Drive, five minutes later. According to a news statement from the police, they discovered an unconscious Valenzuela with gunshot wounds slumped over the front of the automobile. An hour later, she passed away in a hospital.
After discovering the gun on the roof of a nearby home and using DNA, authorities swiftly connected Bustamantez to the killing. Investigators also discovered that the couple had dated in the past.
Prosecutors referenced witnesses in the DA’s news release, stating that they knew Valenzuela had kept in touch with the defendant and that, in the final days before her death, she had expressed to others her desire to cut off all communication with him.
Two days after the gunshot, Bustamantez was taken into custody. Before eventually confessing to shooting and killing Valenzuela, he allegedly denied ever having communication with her.
According to her GoFundMe, the Everett Alvarez High School cheerleading instructor left behind a 10-year-old daughter.
“Faith’s bright smile and kind heart will be missed dearly,” the site said. “We are starting this account to help raise money for Faith’s daughter and family to assure they can continue to live on in the spirit of her mother.”
When Bustamante is sentenced on October 2, he could spend 35 years to life behind bars.
