A California woman has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for shooting and killing a teenage girl in October 2021.
In November 2024, a jury found 24-year-old Jessica Yesenia Quintanilla guilty of first-degree murder for the death of 19-year-old college student Leilani Marie Beauchamp... Continue reading here ▶
Beauchamp was killed inside a home in Fairfield, California.
Before Quintanilla was sentenced on January 17, Beauchamp’s grandmother, Lourdes Giovannini, spoke about the loss.
“Her brothers and sisters will never know what life would have been like with their big sister around,” she said. “Leilani was my first grandchild. I was in the delivery room when she was born. The pain from losing her is impossible to describe.”
Quintanilla’s lawyer, William Welch, says his client is upset about the prison sentence and plans to appeal. Quintanilla is a mother of two.
Beauchamp was last seen on October 30, 2021, leaving a Halloween party in Sacramento with two Air Force airmen, including Juan Parra-Peralta from Travis Air Force Base. Prosecutors say Beauchamp was in bed with Parra-Peralta when Quintanilla, who had dated him before, became angry and shot Beauchamp around 9 a.m.
They claim Quintanilla was furious because she had asked Parra-Peralta not to spend time with Beauchamp.
Quintanilla says she only went to Parra-Peralta’s house to pick up her clothes after breaking up with him the night before. She claims the shooting was an accident.
According to her, Parra-Peralta pulled a gun on her when she tried to leave, and as they struggled over the weapon, it fired and killed Beauchamp.
Testimony showed that after the shooting, Quintanilla allegedly threatened Parra-Peralta with her handgun and forced him to drive to Salinas, where he left Beauchamp’s body down a hillside on October 31. In exchange for his testimony, Parra-Peralta was given immunity.
Quintanilla’s older brother, Marco Antonio Quintanilla, received a four-year sentence for helping her after the murder.
