A California man has been convicted of brutally murdering his ex-girlfriend in a frenzied knife attack, with the woman’s final screams hauntingly captured on a voicemail.
Craig Charron, 39, was found guilty of murdering 25-year-old Laura Sardinha in September 2020 at her Huntington Beach home, just hours after she had her locks changed and obtained a restraining order against him. The steps she took that day reflected years of living in fear, as had several women before her.
Sardinha was on the phone with her mother and best friend when Charron suddenly appeared in her apartment, armed with several knives. “Oh my God, he’s here,” she said in panic, before the line went dead. Her friend immediately called 911.
Moments later, Sardinha tried to call back and left a chilling 37-second voicemail. In it, she can be heard screaming, “He’s gonna kill me!” and desperately shouting, “Get away from me!”
“If you listen to it carefully, you hear a woman narrating her murder,” Orange County Deputy District Attorney Janine Madera told the jury during closing arguments, as quoted by the New York Post.
Jurors heard how Charron launched a savage attack, stabbing Sardinha multiple times. He nearly severed her nose, plunged a knife twice into her chest, and stabbed her in the head with such force that the tomato knife’s blade bent.
Police arrived to find Sardinha dead and Charron bleeding from chest and neck wounds. Prosecutors argued these were self-inflicted, part of an attempt to make it look as if she had attacked him.
Charron, an Air Force veteran and former combat medic, claimed he remembered little of the day and insisted on the stand that he acted in self-defence.
But prosecutors revealed a disturbing pattern of behaviour. Earlier that morning, Sardinha had confided in a friend that Charron had woken her up and demanded oral sex. She recorded a short video saying, “Please get away from me,” adding that he never leaves.
Later, she hid in her apartment complex’s leasing office after spotting him nearby. Staff helped her change the locks, but investigators believe the door may have been left unlocked later in the day, allowing Charron to re-enter.
Three of Charron’s former partners also testified during the trial, each describing similar patterns of abuse. One woman said he choked her and hit her over the head with a wine bottle. All had previously obtained restraining orders against him.
Charron now faces sentencing for Sardinha’s murder, a case that has cast a harsh spotlight on intimate partner violence and the devastating consequences when repeated warnings go unheeded.
