Aug. 20, 2025 marked two years since the kidnapping, attempted rape and murder of 19-year-old Andrea Vazquez. While a suspect was arrested and charged within three days after her killing, her family is still waiting for the trial to begin.
The defendant, 22-year-old Gabriel Esparza, appeared before Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Sam Ohta on Nov. 13 for a pretrial conference. Deputy Public Defenders Mark Carrillo and Kathleen Fischman represented Esparza, and Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman, who has secured convictions in several homicide cases over the past two decades, appeared for the state. After only a few minutes, the next pretrial conference was scheduled and the proceedings were adjourned.
Prosecutors allege that Esparza, then 20, opened fire on Vazquez and her boyfriend at Penn Park in Whittier before abducting her on Aug. 20, 2023. Vazquez’s body was found the next day in a field in Moreno Valley, sparking widespread community outrage and calls for justice.
Ohta stated that Esparza has given a general time waiver, forgoing his right to a speedy trial. Esparza has pleaded not guilty to seven charges of kidnapping, murder, attempted rape, and attempted murder, and is being held without bail.
A dozen of Vazquez’s loved ones filled the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center courtroom as they waited for the pretrial conference in the case against Esparza to begin.
Among the loved ones who attended the pretrial hearing was Vazquez’s mother, Ana Vazquez.
“I just want justice,” she said. “I want him to go away. I hope he never sees the light of day again.”
The family expressed frustration with the repeated delays but said they plan to attend every hearing until the case is resolved.
A two-day pretrial hearing in June 2025 revealed new details about the case. According to the Whittier Daily News, Whittier Police Sgt. Jose Bolanos testified that Esparza gave a detailed account of his movements on Aug. 20, including leaving his home through a bedroom window to avoid cameras, driving between several parks before returning to Penn Park, and removing the rear license plate from his truck. At Penn Park, he shot Vazquez in the head with a rifle, put her in his truck and drove off, according to testimonies from Bolanos and Julian Gonzalez, Vazquez’s boyfriend.
Bolanos said Esparza told detectives he later fired an additional round into the truck bed when he heard Vazquez screaming, and that he attempted to rape Vazquez twice in Moreno Valley and eventually dragged her into a field while she was still speaking.
Investigators also testified that Esparza’s phone had pinged in the location where Vazquez’s body was later found, and that they recovered multiple rifles in Esparza’s home, one of which they linked to the shooting., A witness who heard the gunshots in Penn Park said that the video of Esparza’s truck at a Chevron station matched the truck he had seen at Penn Park.
After police arrested Esparza on Aug. 21, they asked him to take them to where he left Vazquez. Esparza’s private attorney, Ambrosio Rodriguez, pressed Bolanos on whether Esparza was coerced into taking investigators to the body, and Bolanos said Esparza volunteered.
The case is scheduled to return to court on Jan. 15, 2026, for the next pretrial conference in Dept. 108 at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles.
