What happened to Modesto killers convicted in 5 high-profile murder cases?
Over nearly four decades, Stanislaus County has seen its share of high-profile killings, from mass murders to robberies gone wrong.
They include the murder of Laci Peterson and a fatal home invasion.
What happened to the men convicted of those murders? Are they still incarcerated in California state prisons?
Here’s what happened to the people involved in five high-profile cases:
When happened to teens who tortured, killed Modesto couple?
A group of teenagers tortured and killed Kathy and Phillip Ranzo in their Modesto home in 1979 during a home invasion robbery, The Modesto Bee reported.
One of Phillip Ranzo’s coworkers went to check on the couple after they failed to show up at work, and discovered their bodies.
The four involved in the Ranzos’ deaths — Ronald Ray Anderson, Jeffrey Maria, Darren Lee and Marty Spears, also known as Marty Jackson — were sentenced to life without parole. Because they were teens at the time, they qualified for “youthful offender” laws passed in the years following the murders.
All four appealed their convictions multiple times.
In 2023, Maria was released from prison at age 61. The other three remain behind bars.
Anderson, 65, was incarcerated at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego as of Friday, June 26, according to records from the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation.
Spears, 64, and Lee, 63, are serving their time at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, state inmate records show.
Where is convicted killer Scott Peterson now?
Months after his pregnant wife disappeared from her Modesto home, Scott Peterson was charged with killing Laci Peterson and her unborn child, The Modesto Bee previously reported.
In 2004, a jury found Peterson guilty of murdering his wife and child. He was then sentenced to death.
In 2020, the California Supreme Court revoked Peterson’s death sentence.
He was moved to Mule Creek State Prison in Amador County in 2022.
Man killed five family members at Modesto home
In 2015, Modesto resident Martin Martinez killed five people including his then-girlfriend, Dr. Amanda Crews, as well as her two daughters, his mother and his niece.
Police discovered the bodies during a welfare check at Crews’ north Modesto home.
Martinez was arrested in San Jose after attending a family barbecue, The Modesto Bee previously reported.
In 2020, Martinez pleaded guilty to the murders of five family members and received five consecutive life sentences without the possibility of life in parole.
He also pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the death of Crews’ 2-year-old son, who suffered a brain injury in 2014 while under Martinez’s care.
As of Friday, Martinez, 41, was incarcerated at California State Prison, Corcoran.
Robbery leads to shootings of store owners, daughter
A botched robbery led to the execution-style murders of three people in their Modesto store in 2011.
Van and Phouvieng Thammavongsa were shot at V and V Oriental Market on Yosemite Boulevard, along with their daughter, Nanc, The Bee previously reported.
Three Modesto teenagers were arrested and charged with their murders. Oloth “Dicky” Phommahaxay was 18 at the time, while Sophon Ting was 15 and and Chris Douangkham was 16.
Phommahaxay pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter along with other charges in 2021, and was sentenced to 35 years in prison.
In 2021, a jury found Douangkham guilty of first-degree murder, robbery and burglary. He received three life sentences without the possibility of parole, along with a sentence of 50 years to life.
Since Ting was under 16 at the time of the killings, he was prosecuted in juvenile court and convicted of murder and robbery. As a minor, he could only remain incarcerated until age 25.
As of Friday, Phommahaxay, 33, was serving time at the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo and Douangkham, 31, was imprisoned at High Desert State Prison in Susanville.
Gang member ordered men to kill teenage girl
In 2012, Richard Tyrone Garcia and Armando Osegueda kidnapped a teenager, holding her captive for several days as they beat, choked and burned her, The Bee previously reported.
Garcia, a high-ranking member of the Norteño street gang, later ordered Osegueda and another man, Joseph Luis Jauriqui, to murder the 18-year-old woman and anyone else found in her Modesto house.
Three people were shot and killed: 16-year-old David Siebels, 19-year-old Alyxandria Tellez and 31-year-old Edward Joseph Reinig.
The woman who was the initial target of the attack survived by hiding under a pile of clothes.
In 2023, Jauriqui pled guilty to the murders, and was sentenced to 100 years in prison.
Garcia was sentenced to life in prison plus three years in 2023 for recruiting an inmate to kill his cellmate after he was scheduled to testify against Garcia in 2016. The hit wasn’t carried out.
In 2024, Garcia was convicted in connection to the Modesto shootings. He received the death penalty in 2025, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Osegueda’s trial is scheduled to start in July 2026.
As of Friday, Garcia, 39, was incarcerated at Mule Creek State Prison and Jauriqui, 36, was behind bars at Calipatria State Prison.
