MS-13 Gang Members Stabbed South OC Man To Death In Hot Tub, DA Says

LAKE FOREST, CA — Two MS-13 gang members were convicted Tuesday of stabbing a 25-year-old man to death while he sat in a hot tub in Lake Forest with his girlfriend, nearly decapitating him and injuring his girlfriend.

Mission Viejo residents Jose Rafael Andrademembreno, 29, and Edwin Diaz, 25, were convicted by a jury Tuesday of one felony count of first-degree murder with a special circumstance of lying in wait, one felony count of conspiracy to commit murder, and one felony enhancement of personal use of a deadly weapon, according to Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer.

The duo attacked 25-year-old Marcos Morales in the early morning hours of Oct. 1, 2018, while he was sitting in the hot tub with his girlfriend.

"[They] stabbed the man to death and nearly decapitated him as he tried to defend himself with a patio chair," Spitzer said. "The gang members chased a severely injured Marcos Morales from the pool area to a stairwell in the apartment complex where they continued the attack and left him to die."

In addition, one of the gang members' girlfriends also stabbed Morales' girlfriend while he was being stabbed to death.

A third defendant, Xiomara Berrios, was charged with one felony count of murder with the special circumstance of lying in wait, one felony count of conspiracy to commit murder, and one felony count of assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm.

Berrios, who is Diaz's sister and was 18 at the time of the attack, agreed to plead guilty to second-degree murder in exchange for testifying at the trial.

Andrademembreno and Diaz face a maximum sentence without the possibility of parole, Spitzer said. They are scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 23, 2026.