Police: Woman Was on Call with Mom and Best Friend When Boyfriend Fatally Attacked Her

An American man who was accused of killing his girlfriend with a knife while she was on the phone has been found guilty of murder.

The 39-year-old Craig Charron was found guilty on Tuesday of stabbing to death his 25-year-old girlfriend Laura Sardinha in 2020 in the flat they used to share. Charron and Sardinha got into a few fights, so the prosecutors said Sardinha changed the locks and got a protection order against him. He still got into her apartment, though, and struck her with several knives, cutting her in the face and chest.

On the phone during the attack, Sardinha left a 37-second message that prosecutors said sounded like “a woman narrating her own murder.”

During the trial, which the Los Angeles Times wrote about, officials said that Sardinha was just one of many women who had hired a lawyer to stop Charron from seeing them. Three of those women testified for the prosecution. All of them said that while they were dating Charron, he hit, choked, or otherwise abused them.

The prosecutor says Sardinha had been writing down Charron’s actions, including the morning of the day she was killed. When Sardinha woke up on September 2, 2020, she recorded a chat she had with Charron in which she begged him to leave her alone, saying things like “Please leave” and “Get away from me.” It was said that Charron replied, “All I want is to be with you.” After that, Sardinha said, “Because you won’t leave, you scare me.”

Prosecutors said Sardinha told a friend that Sharron had asked her to have oral sex.

Charron also tried to make himself look like the victim. He was seen filming himself in the flat saying, “Oh my God, don’t hit me…” What’s the point of hitting me, Laura? Sardinha was across the room on the other side.

That morning, Sardinha went to the rental office to ask if she could change the locks on her flat. The boss of the apartment building saw Charron and let Sardinha hide in the office before taking her back to the apartment. That morning, the locks were changed.

He kept trying to call Sardinha by phone after he was locked out, but she ignored him.

Around 1:15 p.m. that day, Sardinha called her mom and best friend. He did get into the room at some point, though. He said he got in through the open door when he took the stand.

Sardinha could be heard saying, “Oh my God, he’s here!” while she was on the phone. After they hung up, the friend called 911. And Sardinha made another call that went to voicemail. In it, you can hear her yelling, “He’s going to kill me!” “Get away from me!”

authorities say that a recording of the attack was made. For Charron, there was nothing he could say. The prosecutors said, “You don’t hear the defendant on it, and his silence is absolutely deafening.” He likes taking his time killing her.

Then Charron stabbed himself to make it look like he had been attacked and was protecting himself. A veteran named Charron took the stand and said that he had a 100% disability rate and had been to psychiatric treatment. He told the judge that the attack was “hazy,” and that he didn’t fully understand what was going on at the time. It takes me a moment to realize I’m being cut up.

Charron “towed over” Sardinha, who was 6 feet tall and 220 pounds, according to the prosecutors, so he cut himself. Prosecutors said Sardinha probably did not stab Charron because she had an injury in a motorcycle accident in 2019 that made her unable to cut lemons with a knife. This meant she could not do her job as a bartender.

Charron “was the aggressor 100% of the time,” though, so she might not have done it.

Charron was found guilty of first-degree murder after less than a day of deliberation. He is going to get his sentence on July 25.

You can call the National Domestic abuse Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or go to thehotline.org if you are subject to domestic abuse. Calls are free, private, and can be made at any time in more than 170 languages.

About The Author