Sex Offender Sentenced For 1980 Palos Verdes Murder

PALOS VERDES, CA — A registered sex offender from San Pedro was sentenced Monday to 15 years-to-life in prison for killing a pregnant newlywed whose body was found on a Palos Verdes Estates beach in 1980, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced.

Robert Yniguez, 67, pleaded no contest on Sept. 30 to one count of second-degree murder.

A surfer discovered the body of 20-year-old Teresa Broudreaux on Malaga Cove Beach on March 4, 1980. She was naked, only wearing socks, and was bleeding from her head, the District Attorney's Office press release said. She died from blunt force trauma and was pregnant, the prosecutors said.

DNA evidence found on the victim's body linked Yniguez to the murder two years ago. He was arrested on Sept. 28, 2017, the press release said.

The construction worker — who is married and has a family — was convicted in 1982 of a sexual assault in the South Bay area and served about eight years of a 12-year prison term, according to sheriff's Homicide Bureau Detective Ralph Hernandez.

Yniguez was also arrested in February 1981 in connection with another sexual assault, but that case was eventually dropped due to a lack of cooperation on the alleged victim's part, Hernandez said. He said the 1981 attack had a "very similar modus of operandi as to what we believe happened" to Broudreaux, who was found naked and bleeding from the head in the early morning hours of March 4, 1980, after Palos Verdes Estates police responded to a call of a female lying on Malaga Cove Beach.

Investigators did not believe Yniguez and Broudreaux knew each other.

Deputy District Attorneys Allyson Ostrowski and David Zygielbaum prosecuted the case. The case was investigated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Related:

• Sex Offender Faces Judge Today For 1980 Palos Verdes Murder
• Registered Sex Offender Pleads Not Guilty To 1980 Palos Verdes Murder
• DNA Links Registered Sex Offender To 1980 Murder

City News Service contributed to this post