Man Who Killed Girlfriend, Burned Body Found Guilty

A Murrieta man was convicted today of killing his girlfriend and burning her body in Temecula.

Melvin Louis Shaw, 44, was found guilty of first-degree murder for slaying Elisa Marie Lopez, 41, in their Murrieta home. The jury of 12 women and three men deliberated for less than four hours.

The body was reported by a security guard at 12:23 a.m. on July 21, 2007 in a dumpster enclosure behind in the 27000 block of Winchester Road, according to the district attorney’s office.

She was killed hours earlier in her home. The cause of death is unknown, but it was likely strangulation or another kind of suffocation, prosecutor Brandon Smith argued during the trial.

Shaw called 911 later that morning and reported her missing. He said he last saw Lopez the evening before when they had an argument about his being drunk.

Officers noticed a detail that hinted something sinister happened. The dryer was running, Smith said.

This lead to further investigation, and the officer found spots of blood splattered around the bathroom and a mop looked seemed to be recently used and had what looked like Lopez’s hair in it.

Under interrogation, Shaw said he woke up at her home from an alcohol-induced blackout after a long day of drinking and found her dead. He then dragged the body through the home they shared, put it in his trunk, dumped the body in the dumpster enclosure, doused it in gasoline and lit it on fire.

He acted in the heat of passion, said defense attorney Erin Kirkpatrick. She asked the jury to find him guilty of only voluntary manslaughter.

Shaw had a violent criminal history, Smith said. He was arrested for robbery and for assaulting somebody in a bathroom at the .

Shaw faces a sentence of 25 years to life. He’s scheduled to be sentenced on May 27.