San Gabriel Valley Man Sentenced to 25-Year-to-Life Term for Wife's Killing

A West Covina man was sentenced today to 25 years to life behind bars for murdering his wife, whose body was found last year inside her car in the parking lot of the Hawaiian Gardens Casino.

Tomas Rodriguez Infante, 62, was convicted June 17 of first-degree murder for the January 2013 stabbing and beating death of Charita Tolentino, 57.

A woman who had been having an affair with Infante broke off the relationship after learning he was married, according to Deputy District Attorney Miriam Avalos. Tolentino went missing one day after the woman broke up with Infante, according to the District Attorney's Office.

Her body was found in the trunk of her car, which was located in the casino's parking lot in the 11800 block of Carson Street on Jan. 12, 2013.

The defendant's son testified that his father told him that he had killed Tolentino. Surveillance video from the casino, along with cell phone records and blood evidence at the home, also linked Infante to the crime, and he was arrested two days after the victim's body was discovered.

—City News Service