The 2021 murder of 19-year-old Leilani Beauchamp now has a brother and sister on trial for the murder, and while they say the shooting was an accident, their alleged gruesome disposal of the body in rural Salinas has them answering some tough questions on the stand.
Halloween has to be a difficult day to process each year for the family of Carmel woman Leilani Beauchamp, who was shot and killed on October 30, 2021 in Fairfield inside the home of a Travis Air Force Base airman when she was 19 years old. Her body was discovered dumped in Salinas on the 31st. Beauchamp was in bed with the airman Juan Parra-Peralta when she was shot, as Parra-Peralta’s ex-girlfriend showed up unannounced and discovered the two in bed. After the shooting, the ex-girlfriend Jessica Quintanilla, her brother Marco Quintanilla, and Parra-Peralta were arrested for murder and accused of dumping the body.
The murder trial started in mid-October, though before that, the airman Parra-Peralta had been granted immunity in exchange for his testimony. Solano County prosecutors described the killing as a “love triangle situation,” with the then-21-year-old Jessica Quintanilla allegedly shooting Beauchamp out of rage and jealousy. The Bay Area News Group reports that Quintanilla was cross-examined on Wednesday, claiming the shooting was “an accident,” but obviously facing difficult questions about why the trio tried to clandestinely dispose of the body without alerting authorities.
Prosecutors pointed to texts and social media messages where Quintanilla told Parra-Peralta “not to hang around with” Beauchamp, and say she had a vendetta against Beauchamp. Quintanilla says that Parra-Peralta was armed too, the two engaged in a scuffle and she said “the gun went off” without any intent to shoot Beauchamp.
But the disposing of the body is a difficult thing to innocently explain. Quintanilla allegedly recruited her brother to help with the disposal, wrapped the body in a blanket, and dumped it on a hillside in Salinas. The trio then allegedly went back to the Travis dorm room, cleaned blood off the apartment, and dumped the blood-stained mattress in a Vallejo dumpster.
The trial has already resumed this Thursday morning. If found guilty, Jessica Quintanilla faces 25 years to life in prison, plus additional firearm charges. Marco Quintanilla, who is out on bail, faces three years in prison for acting as an accomplice.
Image: LeilaniBeauchamp.com
