Indiana man will spend life in prison without parole for murdering mother in Grover Beach
A Bloomington, Indiana, man who drove nearly across the country to Grover Beach to murder his mother for his inheritance and real estate will spend the rest of his life in prison.
At an unusually speedy sentencing hearing in San Luis Obispo Superior Court on Wednesday morning, Judge Matthew Guerrero followed a recommendation by the county probation department to sentence Levente Lazlo Lazar, 27, to life in state prison without the possibility of parole.
The tough sentence was handed down because of Lazar’s financial motive as well as his use of a deadly weapon — a knife or another sharp object — to stab 64-year-old Athena Ilona Valentiny multiple times in the neck.
Her body was found in a pool of blood in her bedroom, according to police bodycam footage shown during the trial.
Dressed in an orange county jail jumpsuit, Lazar sat mostly motionless and staring straight forward during Wednesday’s proceedings.
At the beginning of the hearing, defense attorney Jay Peterson attempted to postpone the hearing due to his office supposedly not receiving the probation department report within the required five days prior, but Guerrero found the report had been provided and proceeded with the sentencing.
No family members of Valentiny were present and no victim impact statement was delivered. Neither Lazar, Peterson or deputy district attorneys Lindsey Bittner and Kelly Manderino, who both prosecuted the case, elected to make a statement.
Guerrero promptly handed down the life sentence after noting that Lazar was found guilty of the willful, deliberate and pre-meditated murder of his mother.
Lazar will be required to pay at least $10,000 in restitution to Valentiny’s family members, who, according to testimony, live in Hungary.
Asked whether he would like to be transferred back to San Luis Obispo to attend the restitution hearing March 11, Lazar replied, “Yes, sir. I’d like to be present, sir.”
He will be immediately transferred to the custody of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for prison placement. He’s been in county jail custody since his arrest.
Following the hearing, county District Attorney Dan Dow released a statement calling the sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole “a just outcome for this senseless murder.”
“Mr. Lazar was wrong when he thought he could literally get away with murder by using technology and deception to hide his involvement,” Dow wrote. “We will always use every means at our disposal to find those responsible, even when they attempt to conceal their tracks.”
During the trial, which began with testimony Oct. 2, prosecutors showed jurors electronic and physical evidence that showed Lazar drove a roughly 4,400-mile round trip from Bloomington to Grover Beach and back.
The trip coincided with the Oct. 24, 2018, stabbing death of Valentiny. Her body was found during a welfare check by officers from the Grover Beach Police Department and California Men’s Colony, where she worked as a nurse.
During the trial, jurors were shown cell phone records that showed Lazar’s “burner” cell phone interacting with cell phone towers along his route across the country and back. Investigators found that burner in a store dumpster around the block from Lazar’s house, according to testimony.
They also saw more than a dozen incriminating online searches Lazar made about murder and inheritance. On his return trip, Lazar searched for news articles online that named him as a suspect in Valentiny’s murder before her body had been discovered.
The county District Attorney’s Office also showed jurors surveillance and street video camera footage of Lazar driving up to Valentiny’s Grover Beach condo, and later footage of what appears to be Lazar walking from her condo trailed by her dog, which has never been found.
During his testimony, Lazar claimed that he took the secretive trip to California to purchase an engagement ring for his girlfriend, which was never bought, as well as a small amount of marijuana.
He was the defense’s only witness, and insinuated that his mother may have been killed by a past boyfriend or husband.
After the verdict was read, the jury foreperson, who attended Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, said that the case was cut-and-dry due to “overwhelming” physical and electronic evidence against him.
“Technology convicted him,” foreperson Geri Lundy said at the time.
This article has been updated to include a statement from Dow.
This story was originally published December 11, 2019 at 10:02 AM.
