California Man Found Guilty in Stabbing Caught on Voicemail

The call started as a lifeline — a casual three-way chat with her mother and best friend. Laura Sardinha had just changed the locks on her Huntington Beach apartment and was feeling a sense of safety for the first time in weeks. But within seconds, safety gave way to terror.

It was September 2, 2020, and 25-year-old Sardinha had recently broken up with her boyfriend, Craig J. Charron. She had taken out a restraining order. She'd asked him to move out. She stopped answering his calls. But none of that stopped him from entering her home that afternoon — and what followed was recorded in real-time.

A Shocking Crime on Voicemail

Moments after Sardinha returned home around 1:15 p.m., she noticed Charron was inside. "Oh my God, he's here," she said to the people on the call, according to the LA Times.

Her friend immediately hung up and dialed 911. Sardinha called back — and left a 37-second voicemail that captured her screams. According to the LA Times, she said, "He's gonna kill me! Get away from me!"

That voicemail would later become central to the prosecution's case. Charron, now 39, was convicted on April 29, 2025, of first-degree murder.

During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Sardinha had been stabbed multiple times — twice in the chest, once in the head with such force that a pronged tomato knife bent on impact. Her nose was nearly severed, and the violence was described as deliberate and prolonged. According to the New York Post, Deputy District Attorney Janine Madera said, "If you listen to it carefully, you hear a woman narrating her own murder."

The jury took less than a day to reach a verdict.

A History of Abuse

This wasn't the first time Charron had been accused of violence. Three ex-girlfriends testified during the trial, describing patterns of abuse and their own restraining orders. One woman said he hit her with a wine bottle. Another said he poured vodka over her and slapped her. Sardinha herself had documented signs of abuse — including a recording, reported by the LA Times, in which she pleads, "Please get away from me."

Two weeks before her death, she told Charron he'd ruptured her eardrum from repeatedly hitting her, an exchange which she recorded on her phone, according to the LA Times.

His Defense: Amnesia and Self-Defense

Charron, a former Air Force combat medic and psychiatric patient at the VA, claimed to have little memory of the day. Taking the stand in his own defense, he said he acted in self-defense after Sardinha allegedly attacked him, according to the LA Times. He was found at the scene bleeding from chest and neck wounds — wounds the prosecution said were likely self-inflicted in an attempt to fabricate a struggle.

His attorney, Michael Guisti, described his past violence as "non-murderous," according to PEOPLE, and argued that if a fight had occurred, it may have been in the heat of passion. But prosecutors maintained that Charron was the aggressor from the beginning.

The Aftermath

Sardinha's life had been on an upward path. She had been pursuing a degree in psychology after a motorcycle accident made it impossible to continue her work as a bartender's assistant. Friends described her as kind and generous — traits that may have left her vulnerable to someone unwilling to let go.

Now, the voicemail she left in her final seconds has become a tragic piece of evidence — a recording no one should ever have to make.

References: Calif. Man Found Guilty in Fatal Stabbing of Ex-Girlfriend That Was Recorded In a Voicemail to Her Friend | Woman Killed by Ex 'Narrates Own Murder' as Final Moments Recorded on Chilling Voicemail | O.C. Man Guilty in Murder of Ex-Girlfriend Captured on Her Best Friend's Voicemail