Craig J. Charron, 39, has been sentenced to 26 years to life in prison for the horrific murder of his estranged girlfriend, 25-year-old Laura Sardinha — a killing so brutal it was partially captured in a chilling voicemail message where Sardinha screamed, “He’s gonna kill me!”
Orange County Superior Court Judge Michael Cassidy called the fatal attack “senseless and brutal,” according to the Los Angeles Times. Charron offered no apology or comment during the sentencing hearing.
Sardinha had taken out a restraining order against Charron and had just changed the locks on her Huntington Beach apartment before she was stabbed to death on September 2, 2020. Prosecutors said she did everything she could to protect herself — but it wasn’t enough.
That day, Sardinha returned home shortly after 1 p.m. and began a three-way phone call with her mother and best friend. According to prosecutors, she suddenly realized Charron was already inside her apartment and could be heard saying, “Oh my God, he’s here,” before the call disconnected.
Her best friend immediately called 911, but Sardinha quickly called back, leaving behind a 37-second voicemail capturing the harrowing final moments of her life. On the recording, she can be heard screaming, “He’s gonna kill me!” and “Get away from me!”
“If you listen to it carefully, you hear a woman narrating her own murder,” said Orange County Deputy District Attorney Janine Madera during closing arguments. “You don’t hear the defendant on it — and his silence is absolutely deafening. He’s enjoying taking his time killing her.”
Sardinha was stabbed twice in the chest and nearly had her nose severed. Police later found her dead in the apartment. Charron was also discovered at the scene, bleeding from chest and neck wounds that prosecutors believe were self-inflicted.
Despite his attorney’s argument that the stabbing may have been an act of passion or self-defense, the jury convicted Charron of first-degree murder in April. Defense attorney Michael Guisti admitted that his client had a violent past, but described it as “non-murderous violence.”
Sardinha’s mother delivered an emotional statement to the court, saying her daughter had tried to escape the relationship but didn’t realize “the evil she was dealing with.”
The court’s sentence ensures Charron will spend decades behind bars — a small measure of justice for a young woman whose last moments were filled with terror and whose voice told the story that her killer never would.
