Cathy Torrez and Sam Lopez: Cold Case, DNA Arrests, and Confession

Cathy Torrez was a 20-year-old Cal State Fullerton student stabbed to death in February 1994 by her ex-boyfriend Samuel “Sam” Lopez after she refused his proposal to elope. Her body was found a week later in the trunk of her car. The case stayed unsolved for more than a decade until DNA testing led to Sam Lopez’s arrest in 2007, his conviction for first-degree murder in 2015, and a sentence of 26 years to life in state prison.¹

Who Cathy Torrez Was

Cathy Torrez was a junior at Cal State Fullerton majoring in social work, an honors student on the Dean’s List, and planned a career helping people in and around Placentia, the Orange County city where she grew up.² She had an on-again, off-again relationship with Samuel Lopez, who lived across the street from her. The two had secretly dated for about eight months while students at Valencia High School.³

Letters exchanged in January 1994 and recovered by police showed the relationship falling apart. In a January 11 letter, Torrez described an incident at a Jack-in-the-Box where Lopez “got crazy” with her, writing that she was “really scared.” Lopez wrote back two days later, apologizing and citing trust issues. On January 14, Torrez told him plainly that she wanted to be just friends, that “everything else just complicates both our lives.”³

The Night of the Murder

On the evening of February 12, 1994, Torrez finished her shift in the photo department of a Sav-On Drug Store in Placentia. She reportedly told a co-worker she was going to meet Sam Lopez.⁴ Prosecutors said Lopez had asked her to elope that weekend and that she refused. An argument broke out in her car. Lopez attacked her with a knife, and when she tried to run, he chased her and stabbed her repeatedly in the face, torso, and head.¹ Torrez was stabbed more than 70 times, with wounds to her neck, upper chest, head, chin, forearm, back, and thigh.⁵

Sam Lopez’s cousin Xavier Lopez was present. Prosecutors alleged Xavier helped place Torrez’s body in the trunk of her car while she was still alive and closed the lid. Sam Lopez then drove the car to another location, where he used a newspaper and plastic bag to cut Torrez’s wrists and throat.¹ On February 19, 1994, a week after she disappeared, her red Toyota Corolla was found in the parking lot of Placentia-Linda Hospital with her body inside the trunk.⁶

Why the Case Went Cold

The early investigation stalled. Investigators found no blood, no DNA, and nothing that physically tied Sam Lopez to the crime.⁵ By February 1995, police had identified him as the primary suspect, but the Orange County District Attorney’s office declined to file charges, citing insufficient evidence.⁶ Sam and Xavier had alibied each other for the night of the murder, and Sam’s remaining alibi witnesses were his own family members.⁷

In October 1997, forensic testing linked Xavier Lopez’s DNA and fingerprints to evidence found in the victim’s car, and he was arrested. Prosecutors again decided the evidence was not enough, and Xavier was released within days.⁴ The case sat cold for nearly another decade.

A Family That Refused to Let It Die

Torrez’s mother, Mary Bennett, took a job as a receptionist in Placentia’s planning department because her desk sat just outside a police department door. Her daughter Debbie joined the department’s Explorer program for teens and later became a lawyer and victims advocate. Her son Marty took a job in the court system.⁴

Bennett introduced herself to every new police chief in Placentia and told each one about her daughter. She kept in close touch with the lead detective, Sergeant Daron Wyatt, who took over the case in 1997. She called him regularly with the same message: “I’m still here.” The community contributed reward money and scholarships in Cathy’s name, and the city eventually offered rewards totaling nearly $100,000 for information leading to a conviction.⁴

The 2007 DNA Breakthrough and Arrests

In 2007, the Orange County District Attorney’s TracKRS unit, a task force created in 1997 to apply modern forensic methods to unsolved violent crimes, joined the Placentia Police Department in re-examining the case.⁷ Sergeant Wyatt directed technicians to re-test evidence from the victim’s car with updated DNA technology. Results from June 2007 tied DNA on Torrez’s shirt to Xavier Lopez and DNA from the steering wheel and driver’s side door to Sam Lopez.⁸

On July 6, 2007, police arrested three members of the Lopez family:

Samuel Lopez, 35, taken from a Placentia house he shared with his brother after a SWAT team was used to flush them out, and charged with murder on $5 million bail.
Xavier Lopez, 35, arrested at his girlfriend’s mother’s home in Anaheim and charged with murder with a special circumstance allegation of torture.
Armando Lopez, 36, Sam’s older brother, arrested on suspicion of being an accessory to murder and dissuading witnesses.⁴⁷

Sam Lopez’s Trial and Conviction

Sam Lopez’s trial began in February 2015 in Santa Ana, more than 20 years after the murder. Senior Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy prosecuted the case, arguing that Lopez killed Torrez out of jealousy after she refused to elope and after he spotted a hickey another friend had given her. “That jealousy led to anger; anger led to violence and ultimately murder,” Murphy told the jury.⁹

The case against Sam Lopez was almost entirely circumstantial. There was no murder weapon, and no blood or physical trace evidence tied him directly to the victim’s body. DNA placed him in her car, not on her. Xavier Lopez’s bloody fingerprints, by contrast, were on the car, and his DNA was on Torrez’s clothing.⁹

Defense attorney Lewis Rosenblum argued that Xavier was the actual killer and that the murder happened during a robbery. He called the prosecution’s case “short on facts and long on speculation” and “the biggest railroad I can imagine,” said the original investigation had been “bungled from the start,” and contended his client did not have time to commit the killing within the window in which he lacked an alibi.⁹

On March 3, 2015, after roughly two days of deliberation, the jury found Sam Lopez guilty of first-degree murder with a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a deadly weapon.¹⁰

Sentencing and Confession

Judge David A. Hoffer sentenced Sam Lopez on May 1, 2015, to 26 years to life in state prison. Before being sentenced, Lopez confessed to the murder for the first time. “It was all my fault,” he told the court. “Everything that Mr. Murphy said is true. I do hope and pray this brings at least a small amount of relief from the pain I have caused them. This was a horrible act that never should have happened.”¹¹

What Happened to Xavier and Armando Lopez

Xavier Lopez’s case ended in a plea deal on October 16, 2015. The murder charge with the torture special circumstance was dismissed. He pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and being an accessory after the fact and was sentenced to four years and eight months in jail. Because he had been in custody since his July 2007 arrest, he had more than eight years of credit and was released the same day. The deal required him to give investigators details about the killing.¹² In court, Xavier said he was “sincerely sorry.”¹³

Armando Lopez’s case ended in February 2017. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of dissuading a witness, and the felony accessory charge was dismissed. Judge Hoffer sentenced him to one year of informal probation.¹⁴ Torrez’s sister Tina Mora addressed him directly at the hearing: “Armando, you harmed Cathy by your words and your actions to cover up for your brother. Your culpability in Cathy’s murder is recognized today.”¹⁵

From murder to final plea, the case had taken 21 years. Sergeant Wyatt, who worked it for 18 of them, later told Mary Bennett, “I fulfilled my promise.”¹⁶

1
OC District Attorney. Man Convicted of 1994 Stabbing Murder of Ex-Girlfriend
2
Orange County Register. Crime Beat: Investigation of Slaying of CSUF Student in 1994 Recounted
3
Orange County Register. Crime Beat Podcast: Letters Between Cathy Torrez and the Man Her Mother Believed Killed Her
4
Los Angeles Times. Arrests in 1994 Placentia Killing
5
NBC Los Angeles. Man Convicted in Girlfriend’s Cold Case Murder
6
Cal State Fullerton. Arrests Made in 1994 Murder of CSUF Student
7
OC District Attorney. Cousins Who Provided Each Other’s Alibi Charged With Murder
8
Orange County Register. Trial Begins in 1994 Stabbing Death That Rocked Placentia Community
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Orange County Register. 1994 Placentia Stabbing Trial
10
CBS News Los Angeles. Ex-Boyfriend Found Guilty of Cal State Fullerton’s 1994 Murder
11
Orange County Register. “It Was All My Fault”: Ex-Boyfriend Gets 26 Years to Life
12
Orange County Register. Man Pleads Guilty to Involuntary Manslaughter in Woman’s Killing in Placentia in 1994
13
NBC Los Angeles. Man Convicted in 1994 Stabbing Death of CSU Fullerton Student to Be Released From Jail
14
MyNewsLA. Killer’s Brother Pleads Guilty to Helping Sibling Cover Up Crime
15
ABC7. Man Pleads Guilty to Helping Cover Up Murder of Fullerton Student in 1994
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Behind the Badge. Murder Case 1994 Kicks Off New TV Show Focusing Human Side of Detectives