Man Convicted of Killing Ex-Girlfriend
SANTA ANA — An Orange County Superior Court jury convicted a Brea man Thursday of first-degree murder for killing a former girlfriend who had told police he was involved in criminal activities, officials said.
Michael Claude, 22, who was linked to the killing in part by DNA evidence, faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced Nov. 23, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Patrick K. Donahue.
Nancy Elsayed, 19, also of Brea, was shot to death in June, 1992, and found slumped over the steering wheel of a friend’s car. The vehicle was parked at Savi Ranch Industrial Park near Auto Plaza Circle in Yorba Linda.
The prosecutor said that Claude was involved in auto thefts before the killing. Evidence presented at the trial indicated Claude might have killed his former girlfriend in part because she gave authorities information about Claude when she was detained during an investigation, Donahue said.
DNA testing showed Claude and Elsayed were sexually intimate shortly before the killing, evidence that helped link him to the crime.
Claude’s defense attorney could not be reached for comment late Thursday.
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