California man sentenced to 40 years to life for fatal freeway shooting of 6-year-old boy

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A California man was sentenced Friday to 40 years to life for the fatal shooting of a 6-year-old boy who was riding in the back of his mother's car on the freeway, prosecutors said.

Marcus Eriz, now 27, was sentenced in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana for killing Aiden Leos in May 2021 while the boy was on his way to kindergarten, the district attorney's office said in a statement.

Eriz was convicted by a jury in January of second-degree murder and shooting at an occupied motor vehicle.

“What he took was the life of a little six-year-old boy and the sense of security of drivers everywhere who worry that driving on our freeways could be a death sentence, not because of a crash but because of a bullet,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in the statement.

An email message seeking comment was sent to Eriz's attorney, Randall Bethune.

During the trial, authorities said Eriz and his girlfriend, Wynne Lee, were heading to work when Lee cut off a car driven by Leos' mother, who responded with a rude gesture.

Eriz pulled out a gun, reached out of the window and fired a shot at the mother's car that went through the trunk and pierced Leos' heart, they said.

Eriz's defense argued that he didn’t mean to kill anyone in what began as a road rage incident and said he didn’t know he had until days later when a co-worker commented that Lee’s car looked like the one authorities were searching for.

The shooting shocked the county of 3 million people, which relies heavily on a network of freeways to get to work and school, and drew international attention as authorities searched more than two weeks for the killer.

Authorities arrested Eriz and Lee outside their apartment in Costa Mesa after chasing leads to the white car Lee was driving. Lee has pleaded not guilty to being an accessory after the fact and is being tried separately.

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer speaks alongside a portrait of victim Aiden Leos during a news conference following the sentencing of Marcus Eriz, Friday, April 12, 2024., Friday, April 12, 2024, in Santa Ana, Calif. Eriz was sentenced Friday to 40 years to life for the fatal shooting of a 6-year-old boy who was riding in the back of his mother's car on the freeway, prosecutors said. (Mark Rightmire/The Orange County Register via AP)

Marcus Eriz, left, is led away after his sentencing, Friday, April 12, 2024, in Santa Ana, Calif. Eriz was sentenced Friday to 40 years to life for the fatal shooting of a 6-year-old boy who was riding in the back of his mother's car on the freeway, prosecutors said. (Mark Rightmire/The Orange County Register via AP)

Marcus Eriz, left, wipes his eyes as he reads a statement along side his attorney Deputy Public Defender Randall Bethune during his sentencing, Friday, April 12, 2024, in Santa Ana, Calif. Eriz was sentenced Friday to 40 years to life for the fatal shooting of a 6-year-old boy who was riding in the back of his mother's car on the freeway, prosecutors said. (Mark Rightmire/The Orange County Register via AP)

Marcus Eriz, right, sits in court during his sentencing, Friday, April 12, 2024, in Santa Ana, Calif. Eriz was sentenced Friday to 40 years to life for the fatal shooting of a 6-year-old boy who was riding in the back of his mother's car on the freeway, prosecutors said. (Mark Rightmire/The Orange County Register via AP)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican authorities said Thursday they have found tents and questioned three people in the case of two Australians and an American who went missing over the weekend in the Pacific coast state of Baja California.

María Elena Andrade Ramírez, the state’s chief prosecutor, would not say whether the three people questioned were considered possible suspects or witnesses in the case. She said only that some were tied directly to the case, and others indirectly.

But Andrade Ramírez said evidence found along with the abandoned tents was somehow linked to the three. The three foreigners were believed to have been surfing and camping along the Baja coast near the coastal city of Ensenada, but did not show up at their planned accommodations over the weekend.

“A working team (of investigators) is at the site where they were last seen, where tents and other evidence was found that could be linked to these three people we have under investigation,” Andrade Ramírez said. “There is a lot of important information that we can't make public.”

“We do not know what condition they are in,” she added. While drug cartels are active in the area, she said “all lines of investigation are open at this time. We cannot rule anything out until we find them.”

On Wednesday, the missing Australians' mother, Debra Robinson, posted on a local community Facebook page an appeal for helping in finding her sons, Jake and Callum. Robinson said her son had not been heard from since Saturday April 27. They had booked accommodations in the nearby city of Rosarito, Baja California.

Robinson said one of her sons, Callum, is diabetic. She also mentioned that the American who was with them was named Jack Carter Rhoad, but the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City did not immediately confirm that. The U.S. State Department said it was aware of reports a U.S. citizen missing in Baja, but gave no further details.

Andrade Ramírez said her office was in contact with Australian and U.S. officials. But she suggested that the time that had passed might make it harder to find them.

“Unfortunately, it wasn't until the last few days that they were reported missing. So, that meant that important hours or time was lost,” she said.

In 2015, two Australian surfers, Adam Coleman and Dean Lucas, were killed in western Sinaloa state, across the Gulf of California — also known as the Sea of Cortez— from the Baja peninsula. Authorities say they were victims of highway bandits. Three suspects were arrested in that case.

In this image made from video, Mexican security forces frisk men at a checkpoint in Ensenada, Mexico, Thursday, May 2, 2024. Mexican authorities said Thursday they have found tents and questioned a few people in the case of two Australians and an American who went missing over the weekend in the Pacific coast state of Baja California. (AP Photo)

In this image made from video, Mexico's police officers stand guard at the Ensenada station in Ensenada, Mexico, Thursday, May 2, 2024. Mexican authorities said Thursday they have found tents and questioned a few people in the case of two Australians and an American who went missing over the weekend in the Pacific coast state of Baja California. (AP Photo)