Young girl found murdered, set on fire in Southern California identified
A girl who was found murdered with her body set on fire in Southern California has been identified.
The victim, Marcia Shirree Thomas, 14, was a missing child from Reno, Nevada, according to the Irvine Police Department.
Through DNA testing and years-long investigations, authorities were able to identify the victim 15 years after her murder.
On Sept. 4, 2009, the young girl was lured into a van by two brothers in Santa Ana — Zenaido Valdivia-Guzman and Gabino Valdivia-Guzman.
Zenaido was 23 at the time and his older brother, Gabino, was 30. Gabino was driving the van and Zenaido was hiding in the backseat.
When Thomas entered the van, she began to panic after discovering Zenaido was sitting in the back, police said. The girl began screaming and trying to escape but Zenaido pulled her into the back area and began beating her in the face and neck, authorities said. The older brother continued driving as Zenaido assaulted the girl.
As she tried to escape, Zenaido eventually strangled her to death, police said. Gabino drove the van to a business complex on the 1800 block of Kettering Street in Irvine. That’s where the brothers dumped the girl’s body in the parking lot, doused her with gasoline and set her on fire, detectives said.
The brothers then took the girl’s cell phone and fled the scene.
The next morning, the girl’s body was discovered by employees who had arrived at the complex for work. Police and homicide detectives arrived and began searching for leads on the suspects.
On Nov. 5, 2010, over a year after the murder, Zenaido’s DNA was linked to the girl’s murder stemming from a 2009 misdemeanor conviction for domestic violence.
He was located the next day at a shopping center in Santa Ana where he was taken into custody. His older brother, Gabino, was with him at the time and was also arrested.
On Nov. 15, 2022, Zenaido was convicted by a jury of first-degree murder and the special circumstance of murder in the commission of a kidnapping.
His brother, Gabino, will be tried at a future date.
“The Irvine Police Department has been committed to this case since 2009,” said Police Chief Michael Kent. “Marcia’s family remains in our thoughts during this difficult time. We appreciate the agencies that have assisted in providing crucial information to support the case and the family.”
Anyone with additional information on the case can call Detective John Sanders at 949-724- 7233.
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