"Fatal Femme" Pleads Guilty in 2005 Murder

"The victim in this case thought he was doing some people a favor."

March 24, 2009

Samantha Angela Somegustuva, 26, was sentenced in Maricopa County Superior Court in the shooting death of Valentin Cruz-Gabriel, Laveen Police Department

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The woman who pulled the trigger of a shotgun in a 2005 murder has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.

New Times covered the tragic case of victim Gabe Cruz and the woman who robbed and killed him in a 2006 feature story. The article by Paul Rubin details both the crime and the interesting behind-the-scenes work of experienced detective Jack Ballentine and one of his apprentices, burned officer Jason Schechterle.

According to the short version by the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, Cruz had offered a ride to hitchhiker Samantha Somegustava. She convinced Cruz to drive to the home of Richard Enos, telling Enos the money she owed him had arrived. The pair drove Cruz to a vacant field and executed him for a few dollars.

Somegustava is scheduled to be sentenced on May 1 — she'll likely spend the rest of her life in prison.

(UPDATE 5/4/09: Somegustava received a sentence of life in prison with no possibility of parole).

Enos was convicted in 2007 and is serving life.

"The victim in this case thought he was doing some people a favor," County Attorney Andrew Thomas states in a news release. "They took advantage of his goodness..."

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Ray Stern is the former news editor of Phoenix New Times. He worked as a newspaper reporter in Arizona for more than two decades. He's won numerous awards for his reporting, including the Arizona Press Club's Don Bolles Award for Investigative Journalism.