BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — 26-year-old Armando Cruz pleaded guilty Tuesday to rape, murder, and all other charges in one of Bakersfield’s most notorious cases: the death of 13-year-old Patricia Alatorre.
The tragedy began with a missing person’s case. Then a few days later, as parents all over Bakersfield prayed for her safe return, her family received the devastating news.
The teen, eulogized as “Bakersfield’s Daughter,” was seen by a neighbor’s Ring camera entering a white pickup on July 1, 2020.
According to court documents, detectives found conversations between her and the later identified Armando Cruz on her Instagram account. Investigators found Cruz; in detail, he described how he raped and killed Patricia Alatorre and directed investigators to locations where he left her cell phone and body.
Which then sparked outrage in the community.
“This person, regardless of how much time they do, they’re going to have the opportunity to breathe, to eat, to continue to think through their thoughts, what I would expect is to hold this person accountable,” Mural Organizer Mo Ali said.
However, Criminal Defense Attorney David Torres says Cruz’s guilty plea without the death penalty is not uncommon.
“More often than not, there will be dispositions where they are going to set aside the death penalty simply because it may never happen,” Torres said.
With that in mind, “prosecutors sometimes will avoid having to proceed to trial if there is a situation where they don’t want the family to relive what happened, and in this case, when you have a young lady, there’s a lot of information that is going to come out,” Torres said.
Armando Cruz’s sentencing is set for Nov. 1.
