Lancaster, California Quadruple Murder and Arson: Guilty Plea Brings Life Sentence

Key Takeaways

• Miguel Diego Sandoval, 21, pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and related charges in the Nov. 16, 2024 Lancaster attack.
• Prosecutors said Sandoval acted out of revenge after his romantic relationship ended.
• Four young adults and three dogs died in the shooting and fire at a home on North Tabler Avenue.
• Sandoval faces four consecutive life prison terms without the possibility of parole; formal sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 17.

Introduction

A Lancaster man has admitted to one of the Antelope Valley's most violent crimes in recent years. Miguel Diego Sandoval, 21, pleaded guilty on Aug. 13 to murdering four people inside a Lancaster home and then setting the house on fire. Los Angeles County prosecutors called the attack a calculated act of revenge following the end of a romantic relationship.

Defendant Pleads Guilty in 2024 Lancaster Massacre

Sandoval entered his plea Thursday morning in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom as victims' relatives watched. Dozens of victims' loved ones looked on tearfully from the gallery. The judge heard emotional statements from more than 20 of the victims' family members and friends after Sandoval's guilty plea. He admitted to four counts of first-degree murder, along with special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and murder by lying in wait. He also pleaded guilty to attempted murder, first-degree residential burglary, arson of an inhabited structure, three counts of animal cruelty and two counts of child abuse, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. The child abuse counts were filed as one felony count under circumstances likely to cause great bodily injury or death and one misdemeanor count under circumstances or conditions other than great bodily injury or death. Sandoval also admitted to gun-related allegations. Prosecutors said the attempted murder, burglary and arson charges were each filed as a single felony count.

In addition, Sandoval pleaded guilty to evidence destruction, which was filed as a misdemeanor. He spent a lengthy amount of time discussing that charge with his attorneys before entering his plea.

Prosecutors said Sandoval, who was 19 at the time, waited outside a residence in the 44500 block of North Tabler Avenue on Nov. 16, 2024, until the occupants were asleep. He then broke into the home, fatally shot Janvi Maquindang, Christine Aca-ac, Edwin Garcia and Matthew Montebello, and set the home on fire. Three family dogs were left to burn alive in the blaze.

According to prosecutors, Sandoval wore a mask during the attack. Janvi Maquindang managed to escape the fire but died of his injuries at an area hospital. Jennifer Calhoun, the mother of Montebello's best friend, said Garcia and Aca-ac "pleaded for their lives and he shot them anyway."

News reports differ slightly on the victims' ages. Fox LA and NBC Los Angeles list Maquindang as 21, Aca-ac as 25, Garcia as 24 and Montebello as 21. The Daily News lists Montebello as 23, and the Los Angeles Times lists Aca-ac as 29 and Montebello as 23. The names and the sequence of events are consistent across reports. Christine Aca-ac was the sister of Janvi Maquindang. Matthew Montebello had turned 21 six days before the attack.

A recent account lists the victims' ages as 24 for Maquindang, 29 for Aca-ac, 24 for Garcia and 23 for Montebello, matching some of the figures reported by the Los Angeles Times and Daily News.

A 16-year-old inside the house called 911 from a locked bedroom and was rescued by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies. Another minor was also in the home but was not injured. Both had been trapped inside the burning home. Montebello was pulled from the burning house and died the next day, according to the Daily News. His organs and tissue were subsequently donated following a taped "honor walk" in which he was wheeled down a hospital hallway.

Tahnya Maquindang, the younger sister of Sandoval's ex, was the 16-year-old who hid behind a locked door and called 911, according to lead prosecutor L.A. County Deputy Dist. Atty. Alexander Bott. She was rescued by sheriff's deputies.

Revenge Motive and Court Proceedings

Deputy District Attorney Alexander Bott told the court that Sandoval intended to target his former partner, who was not home at the time. Instead, he shot his ex's brother and sister in their beds, then killed their significant others, the Los Angeles Times reported.

District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said in a statement: "The defendant was jilted when he broke up with his boyfriend and then did something unimaginable when he killed four innocent people. This was a calculated act of violence that left a void for the victims' families that can never be filled. Rest assured this guilty plea will result in a lifetime prison sentence."

During the hearing, Sandoval's former partner, Dillon Maquindang, addressed him directly. He stood at a podium Thursday morning and decried Sandoval for cheating on them, manipulating them, and taking out his failures on the Maquindang family. "You changed my life in ways I never asked for. But you did not take away my ability to live, to love and to find happiness again," Dillon said. "I hate that I'm giving you this much of my energy today. ... My family deserves to be remembered for who they were, not how they died."

Montebello's mother, Celeste, told the judge that others "got to live because of my son" but said the victims' lives were "reduced to ashes and a gravesite" because of "one coward." "He does not deserve compassion," she said, calling the attack an "unforgivable choice." Garcia's sister, in a statement read in court, said, "Losing my brother the way I did was unimaginable... He will never be forgotten." Addressing Sandoval, she said, "You will be remembered for the lives you took." Andrew Montebello called his brother his best friend and said his brother was in a coma for five days after the shooting. He was among those who called on the judge to impose the maximum sentence.

Dillon's younger sister, Tahnya, who hid behind a locked door during the rampage, called Sandoval a "coward." "You're too pathetic to deal with your own emotions that you had to plan something as miserable as this," she said. Sandoval sat forward as the victims' relatives spoke, looking toward Judge Charlaine Olmedo rather than the people he'd wronged. Many in the gallery wore white T-shirts emblazoned with a picture of the victims and the phrase "forever in our hearts."

Jennifer Calhoun, the mother of Montebello's best friend, said the devastation has continued. "It continues through every nightmare, every memory, every smell of smoke," she said. "Every birthday that will never be celebrated."

Calhoun also told the judge that Sandoval took steps to disguise his appearance, waited outside in the darkness and then ambushed the four while they were sleeping in the place where they should have been safest, saying that Garcia and Aca-ac unsuccessfully pleaded with him, "Don't shoot." She said the three dogs were in cages and posed no threat to Sandoval.

Sandoval was arrested five days after the killings and has remained in custody without bail. A grand jury indicted him in May 2025 and added seven counts, including animal cruelty, attempted murder and child abuse. The DA's office did not seek the death penalty, leaving life without parole as the mandatory sentence. Bott told the judge that the District Attorney's Office agreed to accept the defense's offer of a plea to all of the charges and a sentence of life without the possibility of parole before a decision was reached on whether to seek the death penalty.

At the plea hearing, Judge Charlaine Olmedo delayed setting a sentencing date.

Local California Context

The crime shocked Lancaster, a city of about 175,000 people in the high desert north of Los Angeles. The house on North Tabler Avenue, near East Avenue J and Challenger Way, is in a residential area of the Antelope Valley. Sheriff's deputies and homicide investigators from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau handled the case, and the court proceedings took place in downtown Los Angeles at the Foltz Criminal Justice Center.

Background

The Nov. 16, 2024 attack was among the deadliest single-home killings in recent Antelope Valley history. Authorities initially found three people dead at the scene and later confirmed a fourth victim. Sandoval admitted to the killings in a recorded jailhouse conversation, Bott said. The plea agreement avoids a lengthy trial and locks in four consecutive life sentences.

Court records do not disclose the exact sequence of movements Sandoval made inside the home prior to lighting the fire, nor the specific investigative leads that initially linked him to the scene before his arrest by Los Angeles County homicide detectives.

Conclusion

Sandoval is scheduled to be formally sentenced on Nov. 17 by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo. Under the plea deal, he will receive four consecutive life prison terms without the possibility of parole. For the families of Christine Aca-ac, Janvi Maquindang, Edwin Garcia and Matthew Montebello, the guilty plea ends one chapter in a long search for justice.