Man Found Guilty of Lone Caltech Murder in History

The suspect in the fatal shooting of a Caltech staff member in 1995 was found guilty of a second degree murder by a 12-person jury in Pasadena Superior Court.

Raul Alcazar Romero, 57, was found to have shot dead Caltech custodian Javier Francisco Mora, 36, on the Caltech campus in April 21, 1995.

Prosecutors said Mora was in a relationship with the defendant’s estranged wife, Martha McNelis, who was also a custodian in Caltech, the Pasadena Star-News reported.

The incident is the only reported murder in the history of Caltech. Its trial lasted for three weeks.

Deputy District Attorney Dmitry Brodsky, who had fought for a first-degree murder conviction, told the newspaper the verdict was a compromise. Brodsky noted that the most critical part of the testimony was that Romero had left Caltech and returned about 30 minutes after on the day of the murder, showing “premeditation and deliberation.”

According to the testimony, McNelis had been separated from the suspect several months before the murder and that she was already seeing the victim for several years.

McNelis said Romero saw her and Mora leave the campus in the victim’s car to have lunch.

McNelis added that the suspect confronted Mora and said something similar to “I’ll be back,” and later returned to Caltech, told the victim “Sorry friend,” before fatally shooting Mora six times.

An unidentified jury said the panel was divided on first-degree murder because they did not come up with an agreement on the provocation, the Star-News reported.

Romero is scheduled to be sentenced on December 17. Twenty-five years to life is the maximum sentence for a second-degree murder.