Held-to-answer arraignment set for East Bay siblings linked to Carmel woman’s 2021 death

After a preliminary hearing earlier this week, a Solano County Superior Court judge ruled there was enough evidence to schedule further proceedings against a brother and sister charged in connection to the late-October 2021 killing of a 19-year-old Carmel woman in Fairfield.

Judge William J. Pendergast then ordered Jessica Yesenia Quintanilla, 22, and Marco Antonio Quintanilla, 28, both of Pittsburg, to return to Department 11 for a held-to-answer arraignment at 9:30 a.m. April 24 in the Justice Building in Fairfield. Following that proceeding, if it is held, the judge will schedule other case-related matters, including a jury trial date.

Jessica Quintanilla is represented by San Francisco-based attorney William Alan Welch. She is being held without bail on first-degree murder charges in the Claybank Detention Facility in Fairfield.

Marco Quintanilla, who is represented by San Francisco attorney Laurie D. Savill, is charged with being an accessory in the case and violating his parole associated with a felony conviction for attempted murder. He was previously being held at the Stanton Correctional Facility in Fairfield on $50,000 bail, but, on Feb. 2, 2022, he posted bail on the parole charge and was released.

At their initial arraignment, they entered not-guilty pleas.

As previously reported, on Oct. 30, 2021, the Fairfield Police Department received a missing person report for Leilani Beauchamp, who was last seen leaving a Halloween party in Sacramento earlier that morning with two active-duty airmen from Travis Air Force Base who were living off-base on Cascade Lane in Fairfield.

Fairfield officers worked with Travis AFB’s Office of Special Investigations and the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, as Beauchamp’s remains were later discovered in Salinas.

Lt. Jausiah Jacobsen, the Fairfield Police Department’s public information officer at the time, said warrants were issued to search the Cascade Lane residence on Oct. 31.

Police investigators ended up arresting three in connection with the killing: the Quintanillas and Juan Parra-Peralta, 20 at the time, one of the airmen who lived in the house.

Court records show that Parra-Peralta was not charged in the case and is not in custody. The second airman Beauchamp left with was not publicly identified and was not arrested.

Solano County Chief Deputy District Attorney Paul Sequeira told reporters after Nov. 2 proceedings that the killing may have stemmed from a “love triangle situation” as the investigation continued.

At that time, Jacobsen said it had not been confirmed how all the parties knew each other.