Kriti Mehrotra
It was 1980 when everything turned upside down for the Broudreaux-Fematt family as a young, soon-to-be mother of two, Teresa Boudreaux, was found dead in arguably the worst way imaginable. However, as carefully chronicled in Netflix’s ‘Homicide: Los Angeles: Murder at the Beach,’ it wasn’t until around 37 years later — in 2019 — that officials were able to identify her perpetrator. There simply weren’t any eyewitnesses, concrete evidence, or technological advancements at the time to help them zero in on somebody without a doubt, so they took their time to ensure a satisfactory conclusion.
Teresa Broudreaux Was Found Dead on Malaga Cove Beach
At the age of 20, Teresa was leading a relatively happy, stable life alongside her 4-year-old daughter, new husband, and their unborn child in the beautiful neighborhood of Wilmington. The truth is she had met her husband, Ronnie Fematt, while working at a fast-food restaurant, only for them to soon fall head over heels in love and date for a few years. Therefore, once they realized they were expecting a little girl of their own, they tied the knot in a cozy ceremony before really starting anew, unaware that she’d lose her life five months pregnant.
Newlyweds Teresa and Ronnie actually had an argument on the evening of March 3, 1980, driving the former to go to her sister’s house nearby for a while to cool down before deciding to return. But alas, she never made it home; instead, on the morning of March 4, a surfer found her lying dead along the shoreline of Malaga Cove Beach in Palos Verdes Estates. She was completely naked, barring socks, blood was pooled under her head, and she had defensive wounds on her fingers — she’d been beaten over the head and killed, with her official cause of death being blunt force trauma.
Teresa Broudreaux’s Assailant Was Later Convicted of Rape Too
Because there were no eyewitnesses to the crime and Teresa didn’t have any enemies, the first person officials suspected was none other than her husband, owing to the circumstances of the days prior. However, owing to a complete lack of evidence as well as his visible heartbreak over the demise of his newlywed wife plus unborn child, no concrete action was taken, resulting in the case growing cold. It was only in 2013 that the authorities landed a major break thanks to the specialized cold case unit reviewing the matter and discovering DNA evidence that had been collected at the crime scene.
While officials have never revealed any details concerning this evidence, it has since been made evident it helped them get “quite the hit” as it led them directly to convicted felon turned construction worker and family man Robert Yniguez of San Pedro. It was in 1981 that he’d been arrested for the first time for allegedly sexually assaulting a young woman, only for the case to be dismissed once the alleged victim stopped cooperating. He was then apprehended a year later on similar charges, and this time, he was convicted and sentenced to 12 years behind bars, of which he served eight before seemingly turning his life around.
According to official records, investigators initially believed this DNA match alone wasn’t enough to prove their case, which is why they questioned Robert several times over the years. That’s how they came to believe that while they could not “actually say if a sexual assault occurred,” it could have been his motive, considering his Modus Operandi in the other alleged attacks. So, in late September 2017, the registered sex offender was arrested and charged with murder with the special circumstance of murder during the commission of a rape.
Then-65-year-old Robert initially pled not guilty, yet by the time September 2019 rolled around, he admitted to murdering Teresa with a no-contest plea to the lesser charge of second-degree murder. As a result, merely a month later, he was sentenced to 15-year-to-life in state prison, which finally gave the late mother of two, her children, as well as her widow some much-needed closure.
“There was nobody to hear [my wife] cry, nobody to hear her screams, nobody to help her,” Ronnie had said while choking back tears following Robert’s arrest. “When she bled out, the baby died. I think of that all time.” Therefore, he did make a statement during his sentencing hearing too, indicating that what hurts him most is not the fact his life was “basically ruined” because of the way officials suspected him but that he never got to be a real husband to Teresa and a father to the daughter they would have named Sofia.
Read More: Robert Yniguez: Where is the Sex Offender and Killer Now?
