Accused Suspect In Mother-In-Law's Brutal Slaying, Laguna Beach Body Dump Heads To Trial

LAGUNA BEACH, CA — A former Aliso Viejo resident accused of killing his mother-in-law and dumping her body in Laguna Beach is headed to a jury trial in October. After his initial arrest in 2014, John Edward Moll Gutierrez again pleaded not guilty to the 40-year-old cold-case murder on January 9, 2024. A jury trial was planned to begin on Oct. 1, 2026, in the Superior Court of Orange County, according to court records.

According to the Orange County District Attorney's Office prosecutors, Gutierrez beat his 55-year-old mother-in-law, Lillian DeVilla, to death at the end of January 1998. She was found on Feb. 4, five days after she went missing.

Investigators say the accused lived with DeVilla and his wife, Aileen, in a Laguna Beach condo. On the night of the brutal slaying, he is accused of getting into an argument with his mother-in-law, killing her, tying plastic around her head, and then dumping her body in a field on Laguna Canyon Road for city workers to find.

"The coroner’s office determined that DeVilla was knocked unconscious by a blunt object and asphyxiated, a report from the Daily Pilot says. "Authorities believe the crime took place inside her home and then her corpse was dumped 5 miles away."

In 2014, the suspect, who was working as a landscaper at the time of his arrest, was taken into custody outside an Aliso Viejo gym, according to then reports from the OC Register. He was later charged with his mother-in-law's murder and was out on a $500,000 bond, reduced from the original 2014 bond set at $1 million, according to court records.

Gutierrez is represented by Thomas Edward Welbourn, Allan Stokke and Katherine Corrigan. Prosecutors include Mike Flory, Matthew Murphy, David Porter, Eric Scarbrough and Cheryl Gold of the OC District Attorney's Office.