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A man once considered a suspect in the Clairemont serial slayings was sentenced Monday to 12 years in state prison for his conviction in a Pacific Beach rape.
Louis Angel Mendez, a 23-year-old from Massachusetts, pleaded guilty April 22 to one count of rape. He also admitted using a knife during the attack. The victim was a UC San Diego student.
Mendez became a suspect in the killings of five women in Clairemont and University City because of similarities between the rape and the slayings.
However, investigators discovered that Mendez, who was arrested in Las Vegas, had befriended the victim’s boyfriend and had spent the night before the rape at the couple’s apartment.
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