Man Convicted Of Murder In Normal Heights Slayings Of Couple, Toddler

SAN DIEGO, CA — A man was convicted this week of three counts of first-degree murder for the shooting deaths of a young couple and a toddler inside a Normal Heights apartment nearly 25 years ago.

Sergio Lopez Contreras, 45, was found guilty by a San Diego jury of the Sept. 4, 2000, killings of Michael Plummer, 27; Plummer's girlfriend, Adah Pearson, 18; and Plummer's nephew, Julio Rangel Jr., who was about 22 months old.

Prosecutors allege Plummer was the intended target of the shooting because he didn't pay Contreras for about $30 worth of methamphetamine.

Contreras, who was 22 years old at the time, fired 16 shots into the Bancroft Street apartment with a rifle, then fled the country, according to prosecutors. He was later arrested in Mexico and extradited to San Diego last year.

Deputy District Attorney Chris Lindberg said Contreras was incarcerated in Mexico for "the robbery and murder of a prominent doctor," and Mexican authorities required that local prosecutors not seek the death penalty as a condition of his extradition.

Contreras is expected to be sentenced later this year to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

"The families of the victims were present for the verdict and were gratified to finally receive a measure of justice for the loss of their loved ones," Lindberg said. "The district attorney's office is grateful for the assistance of our law enforcement partners at SDPD and the many current and retired detectives who tirelessly pursued justice for many years."

Plummer was struck by a dozen bullets. Pearson was sleeping on the couch when she was shot and a bullet that pierced the wall behind Pearson entered a bedroom on the other side, where the toddler was sleeping.

The child's parents and a sibling were present when the shooting took place, but uninjured. Plummer died at the scene, while Pearson and Julio Rangel were taken to hospitals, where they were later pronounced dead.

According to Lindberg, one of the apartment's occupants said in a 911 call after the shooting that the gunman was a Hispanic man in his 20s who was seen in a blue Oldsmobile, the same type of car Contreras had been seen riding in with a woman he was dating at the time. The 911 caller also said that woman had brought the shooter over to their apartment, according to the prosecutor.

A friend of Contreras, Victor Calderon, was also present during the killings and was inadvertently shot in the arm by Contreras, Lindberg alleged. A blood trail leading away from the shooting scene was later positively identified as Calderon's blood.

While the case initially went cold, Calderon discussed the shooting with police in 2005 while incarcerated in Alabama, Lindberg said. Calderon has since died while in prison. Other witnesses also say they overheard Contreras and Calderon discussing details of the shooting, including how Calderon was shot because he "got in the way."

Contreras' defense attorney, Neil Besse, said Contreras sold Plummer drugs and was never paid, but denied that Contreras ever went back to confront Plummer.

Besse told jurors that no witness could definitively say they saw Contreras fire the rifle and that no forensic evidence, cell phone evidence, or DNA tied Contreras to the scene of the killings.

The defense attorney said the bulk of the case against his client relied on the accusations from Calderon and others who had reasons to lie.

Besse said Calderon was arrested and convicted in 2005 for driving drunk, leading police on a chase, and killing another person in the process. He was set to be sentenced for the vehicular homicide about a month after he told police about the San Diego killings, Besse said, and was facing a sentence of between 10 and 99 years in prison.

Since the rumors swirling around the San Diego case were of a drug deal gone bad and Contreras was known as "the neighborhood drug dealer," he made a perfect fall guy, said Besse.

"(Calderon) had nothing to lose and everything to gain," the attorney told jurors.

— City News Service