by Andrew Alonzo | aalonzo@claremont-courier.com

Former Claremont resident Jeffrey Alexander Calzada has been sentenced to 26 years to life in state prison after a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder in the 2022 stabbing death of 20-year-old 2020 Claremont High School graduate Anisa Castaneda.

Calzada, 29, murdered Castaneda in a car near Garey Avenue and Foothill Boulevard in Claremont on August 12, 2022. He was sentenced June 9 at Pomona Superior Court.

According to reporting by the Daily Bulletin, Calzada and Castaneda ended their relationship days before the August 12, 2022 murder.

The Bulletin also reported that Calzada asked a friend to bring him to Eureka! in Claremont on August 8, 2022. There, Calzada said he saw Castaneda dining with another man, and snapped photos of her leaving the restaurant. Calzada later texted Castaneda to end the relationship and sent her the photos he’d taken at Eureka! Castaneda called police on August 9.

On the morning of August 12, Calzada borrowed a friend’s white Hyundai Elantra and drove to Castaneda’s residence near Garey Avenue and Foothill Boulevard in Pomona, according to Bulletin reporting. He repeatedly called her throughout the day while parked at the residence.

Castaneda eventually got into the passenger seat. Calzada told police he then stabbed Castaneda in the heart with a pocket knife as they were parked. A representative from the LA County Medical Examiner’s Office testified during the trial that Castaneda survived for “several minutes” following the stabbing.

Calzada then drove south on Garey Avenue, past Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center, and got on the 10 Freeway heading east. He exited the freeway in Murrieta, more than 50 miles east of Pomona, parked near Murrieta City Hall and the Murrieta Police Department building, then dialed 911.

Murrieta PD and paramedics from Murrieta Fire and Rescue responded at 10:35 a.m. Castaneda was pronounced dead at the scene.

Calzada was arrested by Claremont police shortly thereafter.

“The victim’s dress was drenched in blood, blood pooled in her seat, and there was blood on the floorboard,” LA County Deputy District Attorney Brittany Saleeby told the Bulletin.

“Theoretically,” Saleeby wrote in an email, Calzada will be eligible for parole in 2049, after completing 85% of his 26-year sentence.

Calzada is also required to pay $5,010 in court fees. He was credited with 1,398 days served.