He killed his girlfriend, then watched TV, D.A. says; Costa Mesa man faces murder charge

Gory and disturbing details have emerged in the case against a Costa Mesa man who is charged with murdering his girlfriend and dumping her body in a trash can.

Daniel Allen Aldrich, 49, allegedly strangled his girlfriend, Julie Anne Sanetra, 38, after they got into an argument following a night of drinking on Oct. 20, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Daniel Allen Aldrich allegedly strangled girlfriend Julie Anne Sanetra.

(Orange County district attorney)

He slit her wrist with a folding knife, according to the office, and then proceeded to watch television and go to bed while her dead body lay on the couch. Prosecutors say he woke up the following day and stuffed her body in the trash before packing his bags and heading to his mother’s house in Glendale.

On Monday, he was charged with one felony count of murder and one felony enhancement of the personal use of a weapon in the death, according to the district attorney’s office. If convicted as charged, he faces a maximum sentence of 26 years to life in prison.

“Julie Sanetra did not deserve to be strangled and stuffed into a trashcan like a piece of garbage,” said Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer in a statement. “The callousness of this crime shocks the conscience, and we will do everything to get justice for Julie and her loved ones.”

On Oct. 22, landscapers who were hired to mow Aldrich’s lawn discovered Sanetra’s body partially hanging out of the trash by the side of his house in the 1900 block of Maple Avenue and contacted the Costa Mesa Police Department, according to the department and the district attorney’s office.

Aldrich was arrested by Costa Mesa police that evening at his mother’s house in Glendale in the 3700 block of El Lado Drive, according to police and the office.

He is being held in lieu of $1-million bail and is scheduled to be arraigned on Nov. 19, according to the office.