Jury convicts woman in 2020 Riverside murder

A jury in Banning deliberated for only a few hours before convicting Merlin Perales Ortiz of first-degree murder on October 29.

The 24-year-old woman from Yucca Valley was also found guilty of conspiracy and a special-circumstance allegation for killing a victim during a robbery.

The victim was Wesley Flores Miranda, a 20-year-old Honduran national.

Judge Jonathan Mendoza of Riverside County Superior Court set the sentencing hearing for November 18 at the Banning Justice Center.

Ortiz is currently being held without bail at the Smith Correctional Facility.

Her co-defendants, Isaiah Israel Rodriguez and Cristian Alejandro Runkle, both 23, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in October 2021.

Rodriguez admitted to a gun use enhancement and received a sentence of 25 years to life.

Runkle was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

The crime occurred on the night of November 8, 2020, at an apartment in the Canyon Crest neighborhood of south Riverside.

The residence was leased by Runkle's girlfriend, identified in court documents only as “Star.”

Prosecutors stated the three defendants were affiliated with a long-standing San Bernardino street gang.

They had planned to rob marijuana dealers in the region for months prior to the incident, according to trial briefs from the District Attorney’s Office. They obtained Miranda’s contact information through social media and arranged to meet him at the apartment. Star fell asleep in her bedroom because she had been drinking and using drugs during the day, court papers noted. Ortiz acted as the principal planner and directed Rodriguez to serve as the gunman. Security cameras captured the sequence of events. Video showed Miranda exiting his car with a backpack and walking to the apartment door where Ortiz met him. After he entered, investigators said Runkle and Rodriguez confronted him. Rodriguez brandished a Glock 9mm semiautomatic handgun. Ortiz ordered Miranda to surrender the backpack in Spanish, but he refused. A struggle ensued, and Miranda was fatally shot in the upper body near the doorway, according to the prosecution. The trio fled with the backpack, leaving Star to handle the aftermath as police arrived. Detectives identified the defendants after four weeks of evidence collection. All three were arrested in San Bernardino County without incident.