Adult film star gets life in prison for brutally murdering millionaire lover
A former adult film actor has been sentenced to life in prison for the “personal, brutal, and vicious” murder of his wealthy boyfriend.
David Enrique Meza, who worked for Sean Cody under the alias Mario Romo, was charged with the murder of the 51-year-old Jake Clyde Merendino in 2015 in an alleged plot to inherit his $3 million estate.
Meza stabbed the retiree 24 times in the stomach and chest, gutted him, and delivered two final slashes to the neck, according to evidence presented at the trial.
He then dragged the body to a cliff and dumped it over the edge, into a ravine.
Judge Miller called the homicide an “inhumane, depraved act” and chose a life sentence due to Meza’s “heinous” actions.
In federal court, US District Judge Jeffrey Miller said: “One can’t even imagine the torture and torment Mr Merendino experienced.”
Meza and Merendino, a property magnate, met online and pursued a romantic relationship, but Meza continued a long-term relationship with his girlfriend, Taylor Langston, according to evidence presented at trial.
Meza, 26, lured Merendino to the side of a road near Rosarito, Mexico, in the early hours of May 2, 2015.
The two drove down there to move into a $300,000 oceanside condo which Merendino had recently purchased.
Federal authorities say the couple checked into Bobby’s By The Sea hotel not far from the new condo, which Merendino purchased as a planned retirement home.
Meza then killed his lover.
The adult actor was seemingly positioned as the next heir to the Texan millionaire’s estate shortly before the murder.
Meza alleged that Merendino had a new will – written on a hotel notepad – naming him as the sole heir to the estate.
It remains unclear whether Meza forged the will, which would have been the first rewrite of his will since 1998.
After the murder, Meza left the hotel on his motorcycle – a Christmas gift from Merendino – and attempted to cross the border back into the US with his pregnant fianceé, Taylor Langston.
Both Meza and Langston were charged.
Meza faces life imprisonment for foreign domestic violence resulting in murder, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and making false statements to federal officers.
In a similar case, a gay adult film star was recently charged with stabbing his older boyfriend to death.
A white supremacist adult entertainer was also arrested following a drugs raid earlier this year.
