When Bruce Cleland first laid eyes on Rebecca Salcedo, he was immediately taken aback by her beauty and charm. However, their whirlwind relationship ended soon after, when he was brutally killed in an incident that appeared to be an attempted carjacking. However, the police investigation concluded that the evidence pointed to a more personal motivation for the crime. The “Scorned: Fatal Fury: Murder Stripped Down” episode on Investigation Discovery focuses on the cold-blooded plan to have Bruce murdered for financial gain. If you’re interested in finding out what happened, you can rest assured that we’ve got you covered.
Murder of Bruce Cleland
How did Bruce Cleland die?
Bruce Cleland was a reserved and shy individual who had a strong bond with his parents. After completing his undergraduate studies at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California, Bruce went on to study at Stanford University in the same state. At the time of the event, he was working as a software designer for a company and was earning a lot of money in this capacity. Rebecca Salcedo, then 43, was selling spices when they first met on a swap date in December 1995. Eventually, they were married in a civil ceremony, but in January 1997, they followed up with a church wedding.
The couple went out to a restaurant for dinner on July 25, 1997, then went to Rebecca’s uncle’s house for drinks afterwards. They left there around one o’clock in the morning, with Rebecca driving. After some time, a taxi driver was driving through a remote neighborhood when he encountered her lying on the ground and Bruce lying in a pool of blood in the driveway of a house across the street. When the police arrived he had been shot four times in the head and once in the back, but the car was still moving. He had also been shot in the back.
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How did Bruce Cleland die?
Rebecca Salcedo said as they drove home a light on her dashboard indicated that the rear hatch was not closed. This information has been communicated to the authorities. Therefore, she stopped and got out of the car to close the door. On the other hand, Rebecca said she was punched in the head by an unknown person, who knocked her out, before waking up to find Bruce dead. It appears he was first shot in the face while still in the automobile. After that, the murderer shot him in the back as he tried to flee, then he shot him twice more in the head.
Even though authorities were investigating the possibility of a carjacking, the fact that the couple’s belongings were still inside the vehicle made it appear as if the attacker was waiting for them to arrive before committing Bruce’s murder. Also, there was cause for concern about how far Rebecca had come. It was a detour of about four miles from their normal route to their home in Whittier, California. Additionally, authorities later revealed that Rebecca’s disposition was something to be concerned about. They said she gave off the impression of being “relaxed, lazy and indifferent”.
Rebecca said she was shot in the head, but paramedics examining her found no evidence of injury despite her claims to the contrary. Following this, authorities investigated the couple’s private life. During the early stages of their relationship, Bruce showed his affection for Rebecca by giving her a number of expensive gifts. Authorities discovered at the time that she had told acquaintances that she intended to marry Bruce for his money, have a child with him, and then start collecting child support from him. . Rebecca had even used her credit card without her knowledge to pay for her plastic surgery procedures.
After the couple married in a simple ceremony in October 1996, Bruce proceeded to purchase a home in the Whittier neighborhood. On the other hand, Rebecca was the one who resided there while Bruce stayed with his parents until the time of their marriage in January 1997. During this time she had sex with other men and she asked Bruce to give her a call before she allows him to visit her. Authorities also discovered that at some point, Rebecca asked her sister if she knew anyone who could kill Bruce and make it look like he was killed in an accident.
After a few months of marriage, Bruce moved back in with his parents and Rebecca moved in with her cousin Alvaro Quezada in Whittier. Both of these moves took place shortly after the wedding. They were seen by witnesses to be “extremely affectionate towards each other”, and it was further alleged that they were “constantly hugging and kissing”. In April 1997, Rebecca gave Bruce a draft separation agreement she had prepared. According to his parents, he was considering divorce at some point; but, by July of that year, he had changed his mind and decided that he wanted the marriage to succeed, leading to dinner on July 26 of that year.
Phone records that were later recovered revealed that Rebecca made several calls from the restaurant to either Alvaro or Arturo, Rebecca’s father. After the meal, they headed to Arturo’s residence. Then, according to the data, Rebecca contacted Alvaro several times around one o’clock in the morning on the fateful day, and the information obtained from the cell towers placed him in the area of the crime site ten minutes before the murder. Authorities suspected the victim was murdered by Rebecca and Alvaro, along with her brother Jose Quezada.
It appears that financial gain was the motivation for Bruce’s death; at the time of his death, he held nearly $1 million in life insurance policies. Authorities were under the impression that Rebecca was interested in getting not only her salary but also her retirement account. Authorities at the time believed that Jose was the one who fired the shots and that Alvaro was the driver of the getaway. Eventually, the police were able to apprehend the three suspects for their role in the crime.
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Where are Rebecca Cleland, Alvaro Quezada and Jose Quezada today?
Rebecca Cleland, Alvaro Quezada and Jose Quezada were all convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in June 2000, and they were all sentenced to life without the possibility of parole following their convictions . But their convictions were overturned in May 2003, so Rebecca and Jose are now free. In January 2007, when she was 37, Rebecca was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after being convicted of the same charges more than three years after the initial incident.
As for Jose, his second trial ended in a mistrial, but he was eventually found guilty in a third trial and given the same sentence as Alvaro and Rebecca. According to inmate records, he is still being held at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, California. His brother, Alvaro, is currently spending his time at Folsom State Prison in Represa, California. Ultimately, Rebecca will spend her time behind bars at the California Institution for Women in Corona, located in San Bernardino County.
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