Angel Martine McIntire, left, and Diana Perez Gonzalez, right (via Riverside County Sheriff’s Office).
A 29-year-old man in California will spend more than a decade behind bars for killing his girlfriend — who was pregnant with their daughter at the time — inside of the home they shared with their young daughter, despite the fact that authorities were never able to locate the woman’s body.
A Riverside County superior court judge on Friday ordered Angel M. McIntire to serve 11 years in a state correctional facility for the 2020 slaying of Diana Perez Gonzalez, records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
A jury in March convicted McIntire on one count of voluntary manslaughter, but also found him not guilty on two count of first-degree murder. The 11-year sentence is the maximum allowed for a voluntary manslaughter conviction under California state law.
Authorities said that the couple got together in 2018, with McIntire first becoming physically abusive about a year later and continuing to get worse over time.
The investigation into McIntire began when deputies with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office at about 5:32 p.m. on Dec. 11, 2020, responded to an emergency call regarding a possible missing person at the couple’s residence located in the 3000 block of Crooked Branch Way in Banning, California. Upon arriving at the address, deputies were informed by one of the victim’s family members that Gonzalez, who was about eight weeks pregnant, was believed to be missing and the case was turned over to the San Jacinto Station’s Investigations Bureau.
As the investigation unfolded, detectives began to suspect foul play and the Central Homicide Unit took control of the case. After a nearly two-year investigation, authorities on Oct. 7, 2022, took McIntire into custody at a residence located in the 500 block of Palm Avenue in Beaumont, California, and booked him at the Robert Presley Detention Center.
According to a report from the East Bay Times, authorities posited that McIntire attacked and killed Gonzalez on Dec. 4, 2020. Investigators used the location data from McIntire’s cellphone to show jurors that after inflicting the fatal injuries to Gonzalez, McIntire drove a circuit of nearly 150 miles.
McIntire reportedly began in Cherry Valley, then drove about 45 miles south to Aguanga before heading out to Palm Desert and then returning home. At some point during the trip, he reportedly dropped off his and Gonzalez’s daughter with his mother, insisting to her that he had not seen or been in contact with Gonzalez.
When questioned about the trek, McIntire told authorities that he simply went on a drive to “think,” Palm Springs ABC affiliate KESQ reported.
The station further reported that when McIntire was told about the evidence against him, including the fact that Gonzalez’s body had not been found, he “laughed.”
“When he was told of the charges and the evidence against him, the defendant laughed and said, ‘I thought you would have the body,”’ police reportedly wrote.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, McIntire had a history of violence against Gonzalez. In 2021 he pleaded guilty to one count of inflicting corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant for hitting Gonzalez during an argument at McIntire’s mother’s house.
“As Gonzalez tried to rise from the couch, McIntire repeatedly pushed her back down,” investigators wrote in a probable cause affidavit. “She tried to walk to the front door, but McIntire grabbed her by the arm, leaving a bruise. At one point, when McIntire pushed her, Gonzalez tried to slap him but missed. Gonzalez responded by slapping her in the face, knocking her down.”
A judge subsequently ordered McIntire to complete a domestic violence batterer’s program. However, he failed to appear for the first four classes in early 2021. When he appeared at the fifth meeting of the class, authorities said he “challenged a staff member to a fight” and was kicked out of the program.
A program counselor rated McIntire a six out of 10 as to how likely he was to reoffend, with 10 being the most likely to reoffend, in November 2021 and he took the course again.
In a second attempt, McIntire completed the course and was rated a one out of 10 on the reoffending scale
“He is taking responsibility for his offense and appears to have gained insight into his issues of anger, control, domestic violence and safe conflict-resolution skills,” his counselor wrote at the time.
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