A Fresno man was sentenced Tuesday to 25 years to life in prison for killing an Arroyo Grande woman in November 2020.
In October, Kayonie Eliaz Mendibles, 21, pleaded guilty to the murder of 77-year-old Marion Jeanine Vore.
Vore’s body was found in her Arroyo Grande home on Chamisal Lane the day after Thanksgiving. Mendibles, who turned 18 just three weeks before the murder, was arrested that same night in Pismo Beach. He reportedly used a belt in the killing.
Vore’s daughter, Chelsea Neal, became emotional while speaking in front of the judge, asking for the maximum sentence for her mother’s killer.
“Even three years past her death, I receive phone calls on her birthday from around the world from her friends who are trying to grasp that she will never answer again," Neal said. "Over the past three years, my mother’s death has been referred to as a case number. However, to us, she was our world, and I want to remind people of that.”
Mendibles gave a statement prior to receiving his life sentence saying that he was on LSD when he killed Vore. He also briefly apologized to the family, but Judge Michael Frye said he believes the crime was senseless and that the now 21-year-old is detached from reality.
Mendibles will be eligible for parole after 25 years.
