Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Man Strangled Girlfriend, Dumped Her in Trash Can After Sleepover with Her Body: Cops

Episode Date: November 1, 2024

Daniel Aldrich, 49, is in jail in Orange County, California charged with one count of murder in the death of is girlfriend, Julie Anne Sanetra. The district attorney said Aldrich strangled Sanetra on October 20, slit her wrists and then watched tv next to her body before going to bed. Landscapers found Sanetra's body in a trash can at the home the next day. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy looks at the details of the case in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If you’re ever injured in an accident, you can check out Morgan & Morgan. You can submit a claim in 8 clicks or less without having to leave your couch. To start your claim, visit: https://www.forthepeople.com/CrimeFixHost:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guests:Kimberly Edds https://www.facebook.com/OCDAToddSpitzerAdanté Pointer https://x.com/AdanteEsqCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this law and crimes series ad free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple podcasts or Spotify. It's just another example of domestic violence has taken a life of this woman and just tossed me again like a piece of garbage. And she's so much more than that. A woman is murdered and her body is found in a trash can. Police and prosecutors say her boyfriend is to blame. I have the incredibly sad case of Julie Sinatra and where police caught her boyfriend. Welcome to Crime Fix.

I'm Anjanette Levy. Julie Sinatra had her entire life going for her. She worked as a retail pricing analyst in California, and photos on social media showed her loving life with her dog. But for no reason at all, on October 20th, Orange County Prosecutor Todd Spitzer says Sinatra's life came to an end. And as I said, there was no reason. There really never is a reason.

The DA says Sinatra and her boyfriend, Daniel Aldrich, got into an argument and he strangled her, slit her wrists, and then watched TV with her body on the couch before he went to bed. The crime happened at Aldrich's house in Costa Mesa, California, south of Los Angeles. And it gets worse. Here's the spokesperson for the DA's office, Kimberly Edds. The callousness, in this case is just horrific. I mean, to have your own boyfriend strangle you to death, and then slit your wrist and then just leave your body laying there while he continued to go about his normal business, just watching television until he got tired and went to bed. And in the morning decided, Oh, I need to do something about this body that's laying on my couch and then stuff her into a trash can and then take off to his mom's house.

It's just it's horrific. No one deserves to be treated like that. I mean, she was just thrown away like a piece of trash. And she's someone who was very, very loved by her family. And it's just horrible. I'm going to tell you more about how Julie Sinatra's family is remembering her here in just a bit. But first, here's how Julie Sinatra's body was discovered. The landscapers who were there to mow the lawn are the ones that had to discover this woman's body. Initially thought it was a mannequin or some kind of Halloween decoration. And when they realized that it was actually a human being, they called law enforcement. But I mean, just to have that traumatic event, they're just doing their job, going about their normal everyday business, doing their landscaping duties. And to find a body in a trash can is just horrible.

It is truly, truly horrible. An investigation started from there. Police tracked Daniel Aldrich to his mother's home in Glendale. Aldrich was taken into custody and charged with murdering Julie Sinatra. Glendale, where Aldrich's mother's home is located, is about an hour drive north of Costa Mesa, where police said Aldrich murdered Sinatra during that argument. The two had been drinking, according to the DA. Aldrich's mother just happens to be a well-known sculptor in the Los Angeles area. He's seen here with her, his brother, and former sister-in-law at an art center event in 2013. Meanwhile, Julie Sinatra's mother told the Orange County Register that her oldest daughter was a sweetheart who loved dogs.

Ann Booth said she spoke to her daughter every day and is trying to come to terms with the fact that she will never see her again. Booth also told the website that she had no idea who Daniel Aldrich was. Aldrich is in the Orange County Jail facing a murder charge with an enhancement for using a weapon. Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement, Julie Sinatra did not deserve to be strangled and stuffed into a trash can like a piece of garbage. The callousness of this crime shocks the conscience, and we will do everything to get justice for Julie and her loved ones. He's currently being held in lieu of $1 million bail,

and then the next court hearing will be a pre-child hearing on the evidence. And I just think this is something, this is just a reminder of how domestic violence can end up in such a tragic way. I mean, this woman's 38 years old. And like I said, is very, very loved by her family, who apparently didn't even know who this person was, didn't know. There was no connection between the family and, and Aldrich. But I, I mean, it's just another example of domestic violence has taken a life of this, this woman, and just woman and just tossed away again like a piece of garbage. And she's so much more than that. The stories I cover each day here on Crime Fix show you just how scary the world can be.

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you only pay Morgan & Morgan if you win. There are no upfront fees. So if you're ever hurt, you can easily start a claim at forthepeople.com slash crime fix. So to talk about this really disturbing case, I want to bring in Adante Pointer. He's a legal analyst and he's a lawyer out in California. Your first thoughts on this case, Adante. This is just one of those things where you get so just caught up with the emotion as it relates to you wondering what this young lady went through. You know, she obviously was killed, but I'd imagine there was probably more torment that led up to this than what we know about currently. The details we do know, you're right, are really sad and startling.

She was strangled, according to the DA. Her wrists were slit. And then Daniel Aldrich, according to the DA, sat on the couch with her body watching television. And then he goes to bed and apparently wakes up. And this is all according to the DA. And then puts this poor woman in a trash can. I mean, the landscapers thought she was a mannequin, like a Halloween mannequin or something.

So he then, according to the DA, takes off for his mom's house. And they catch up with him there. This obviously doesn't seem like something that was well thought out. Well, you know, to me, it sounds like, you know, without me having a clinical diagnosis, the thoughts and the actions of a psychopath to be able to kill your mate and then allow her to sit there on the couch while you leisurely and cavalierly watch TV while she's bleeding and to see that go to bed and then wake up the next day and think that it's a bright idea to throw her body away in the dumpster like she's trash. You know, and then you're a coward on top of that to run to mommy's house for safety. You know, it's just outrageous.

And I'm glad the law caught up with them. What's really sad to me is the fact that Julie Sinatra, the victim in this case, her mother told the Orange County Register that she talked to her daughter every day. She didn't even know about this guy. So we don't really know how long they had been together, how long they had been dating. This could have been a fairly new relationship. And this unfolds. But the spokesperson for the DA's office did bring up a lot of the term domestic violence. So this was obviously a dating relationship. And when I think about domestic violence, I mean, I think about that as something that's

probably happened before. They didn't really go into detail and wouldn't elaborate on that. So, you know, this is, they're categorizing this as a domestic violence homicide. So mom doesn't know about Daniel Aldrich, doesn't know her daughter is even dating this guy. And then this happens. How stunning is that? I can only imagine the ball of emotions this mother is feeling. You know, to have her daughter taken from her in such a gruesome way by someone that to her is a complete stranger and apparently not so important enough that her daughter told her about him. Or perhaps someone who was so frightening that the daughter was afraid to talk to her mother about. Either way, it's a tragic loss of life. This family has been

totally destroyed. And I'm sure that mother will be the first one in the courtroom seeking justice. Yeah, most certainly. She said she's trying to come to terms with the fact that she's never going to see her daughter again. It's absolutely heartbreaking. Let's look at this from the other side now. How do you defend this case um how do you defend this case i mean this guy according to the d.a commits this crime stuffs her i don't know if he stuffed her but he put her puts julie in the garbage can and then takes off for his mom's house where the cops catch up with him fairly quickly and they take him into custody we don't know if he made any statements they're not telling us that but but obviously they know enough to know there was an argument that took place.

So it makes me think that he maybe did say something. What do you do to defend this case? How do you handle this? Yeah, well, I think it's one of these cases where you're looking for either some type of momentary or temporary insanity defense or heat of passion. But for either one, you're going to have to try to work from the moment the crime happened and go backwards to try to justify the defense you want to use going forward. And what I mean by that is, if you're talking about some type of heat of passion argument or something like that, he's going to have to tell the officers and tell the court and tell the jury what that argument was about and what took place. Either she came at me with some type of weapon and I responded to

that, or it was temporary insanity. Maybe we were doing drugs. Maybe I have a history of mental health problems. You're going to be reaching for something because as the record stands, even though it may not be premeditated murder, it's close enough and the DA could certainly try to go that way. Yeah, I just, heat of passion though. I feel like you don't really see many of those cases being argued successfully in a courtroom because it needs to be a pretty significant thing that sparks the, a significant event that sparks the reaction to act in that way. And we're talking about somebody accused of strangling somebody and then slitting the wrist and sitting on the couch

and watching TV. So I can't even imagine, I mean, can you imagine what that would be that would spark a heat of passion defense? I mean, how do you successfully argue that? Well, as you mentioned, in order to successfully argue the heat of passion defense, you would have to have some type of act, some type of disagreement that rose to the level that your common ordinary juror, everyday citizen would say, you know, if I found myself in that situation, I might too take a leave of my senses and respond in a violent way. However, as you pointed out, the fact that the man was sitting there on the couch watching TV, just very leisurely, while his girlfriend bled out,

you know, counters that. So as I said, you're thinking about a defense. You may have different defenses. It doesn't mean they're a winning defense. You can have an argument. It doesn't mean it's the winning or the prevailing or the most persuasive argument, but you're forced to defend. And so perhaps this is a case where as opposed to looking at defending the case, you're trying to figure out how you can work out a plea bargain and the best deal possible for your client. Yeah, it will be interesting to see how this ends up. He is being held in lieu of a million dollars bail. I don't think he is going anywhere anytime soon. Adante Poynter, thank you so much. I appreciate you coming on as always.

Thank you for having me. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.