Justice Served for Adrian Zapata

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We had to figure out if there was something that she was hiding. But before the killers can be brought to justice, detectives will have to track them halfway across the world. found out that she and her new friend had gone to Peru. We had multiple undercover officers and detectives out watching her. They were very careful about what they were saying. The more I pressed her the angrier she got. Pero eso no quiero matar a alguien. She snaps because she wanted to be with the person she loved. Fue un puppet, un hombre que enamorado, creyó en lo que le dijo, manipulado, me dio mucha tristeza. May 22nd, 2014. It's a little after 1 a.m. when police in the quiet bedroom community of Westminster, California, receive a disturbing 911 call. An individual by the name of James Luna was on the call and a female could be heard in the background. She was frantic. We have an emergency. Uh the person's not responding. What's going on there? He lace down on the stomach, but he has blood. I don't want to move him. It's I don't I don't think so. I don't think so. I can't see him James explains that the crying woman is his neighbor, 37-year-old Olga Vasquez. James told us that he heard Olga frantically yelling for help, so he calls 911 and helps translate. He says Olga told him she came home to find her bedroom drenched with blood. She believes her husband, 58-year-old Adrian Zapata, has been murdered. What's the last time you saw him? She just got back, but she she just got back. Taking the kid to school. So he was fine this morning when she Yeah, yeah, yeah. Westminster sent patrol officers to the apartment. They made contact initially with uh Olga Vasquez. She directed him to Adrian Zapata, deceased, in his bedroom. Adrian had several injuries on his neck that seemed to resemble stab wounds with an unknown object. He also had Law enforced trauma to the back of his head. He was laying face down with his head on a pillow. He had uh a sheet over his lower half of his body. When you entered the master bedroom, it was in disarray. Uh there were drawers pulled out. It appeared that there might have been a robbery. Dectives turn to Adrian's wife, hoping she can shed some light on what happened. She was absolutely hysterical. very upset crying and continued to be very emotional and upset for many hours. In her heightened emotional state, Olga can't offer more details there at the scene. While an officer takes her back to the station to give a full statement, detectives focus on the crime scene and their victim. Adrian Zapata was born near Lima, Peru on June 27, 1955. The first few years of his life were a struggle. Adrian's parents had him when they were both very young. They weren't ready to Settle down or be parents at the time. So it was his paternal grandparents that stepped into that role of guardianship. From that struggle came ambition. Adrian went to college to become a business accountant. He then secured a teaching position at a technical institute, where he met his first wife, Annie Viegas. Adrián era carismático, era una persona optimista, una persona muy jocosa, tenía chispa. Le gustó que yo era seria. que marcaba mis líneas. Un día me invita a tomar un café y tiempo después él me aprocha y me dice que... Quería ser mi enamorado. Less than two years later, Adrian and Annie were married in 1978. Nos casamos y pues prácticamente inmediatamente salí embarazada. Adrián continuó trabajando en la Academia Brown, yo me dediqué a criar a mi hijo. Tiempo después la situación... En Perúz, temple un poquito. As the Peruvian economy fell into crisis in the 1980s, Violence in their hometown skyrocketed. In 1986, Adrian left for California, determined to create a better life for his wife and eight-year-old son, Renzo. Como hombre de familia, como padre, como esposo, el... Él pensó que lo iba a superar todo y traerse a su familia más tarde. Although he was a professor in Peru, Adrian was forced to start over at the bottom when he moved to America. He worked many odd jobs before he saved enough for his entire family to join him. He actually ended up gaining his license to become a nurse. And that's how he makes a big leap financially. It definitely seemed like they had reached that American dream. Unfortunately, the years Adrian and Annie spent apart took a toll on their marriage. El amor se terminó. Pero decidimos estar juntos por nuestro hijo. Y vivíamos de una manera civilizada y amigable. Como padres. They love me so much, that They would rather stay together as friends at the house. and probe me a stable home. Wall finished college. Once their son Renzo graduated from college in 2007, Annie and Adrian decided to get a divorce. Mm. After a lifetime focused on family, Adrian was now a 53-year-old bachelor. We're all grown up. We were all well established. He was done with helping everybody. He began making regular trips to Peru to reconnect with old friends, and invest in a penthouse in Lima. It was a tall bachelor's pad, um with an elevator straight to the house. It was the place where he could have his parties with his premium friends. On one of his visits, Adrian met a captivating younger woman named Olga Vasquez. Despite their 20-year age difference, the two quickly love. He was over the moon. She was living in his penthouse and everybody was happy. He was like, I'm wanna and I'm waning her to America. She has two kids and we're gonna be happy. In 2010, Adrian and Olga married. And in 2013, he brought his new bride and her two sons to the U.S. to live with him. the ultimate goal for him was to retire. to Peru and to live a a good life after having worked so hard for so many years. After just 11 months in America with his new wife, Adrian's dreams of returning home have been shattered. First glance, Adrian's apartment appears to have been burglarized. But upon closer inspection, Westminster police notice the crime scene tells. The officers determined based on their experience that it appeared that it was a staged Ransacking. Nothing appears to be missing. It seems that the suspect might have just gone in there. make it seem that things are not what they were supposed to be. Adrian Zapata's injuries did show that there was both blunt forth trauma to the back of the head as well as stab wounds. The level of violence would not be indicative of an individual who had woken up and was confronting a robber The fact that it was so brutal seemed to suggest that it was more than just a robbery gone back. suspect entered that location with the intentions of killing him. So we wanted to find a motive. Investigators discover a bad investment from Adrian's past made him several enemies. They felt that he owed them $30,000. And new evidence points to infidelity, but by whom? Right next to a booster seat and a Taekwondo bag was a Mongerie 90 with a box of condoms. Authorities in Westminster, California are combing through the crime scene where 58-year-old Adrian Zapata was murdered. Adrian's body was transported to the Orange County. Coroners office where An autopsy was conducted. Olga was ultimately transported to the police department for an additional interview. While she was being transferred there, we continued to process the scene. We didn't locate any blood in the sinks to indicate that the suspect washed up after the murder. They did not find any evidence of any forced entry which led them to believe that the individual might have had a key. or might have otherwise been let in by the victim. Unexpected discovery in Adrian's car provides a possible lead. When the officer opened the trunk right next to a booster seat and a taekwondo bag. was lingerie nighty with a box of condoms sitting there right in the open. There was an extra large nighty, right? So initially we're like, okay, there's no way this is hers because Olga was pretty small, you know, a small female. We had a suspicion that maybe Adrian may have been having an affair. We sent it to the Orange County Crime Lab to be processed. Investigators head to the station. where Adrian's wife Olga is finally ready to tell her full version of the morning's events. When uh we talked to Olga about what happened, she told us that At about eight AM she left the apartment with her two sons with the uh intentions of taking them to school and running some errands. Adrian was asleep in bed. He worked uh late night, so she was allowing him to sleep. When she uh got home she entered the bedroom and discovered Adrian We asked Olga, does uh Adrian have life insurance policy or any major accounts that someone would financially gain from his death. She said no he doesn't. When they ask her if she knows of any other women in Adrian's life, Olga also says no. Olga told us that her and her husband loved each other. There is no suspicion of infidelity. On either part. I showed her pictures of the Nighty. and box of condoms that we had located in Adrian's trunk. She had no idea. Who's they were or where they came from. Her response. Was Wide eyed, surprised, shocked. And she said something along the lines of You don't think my husband's having an affair, do you? Olga says it would explain some of Adrian's past behavior. She does mention that she had heard Adrian on the phone with a female that seems somewhat secretive. He had gotten text messages from a woman a time in the past and he was possibly being unfaithful. Unfortunately, Olga never looked into the texts further and has no more details to share. So detectives turn to Adrian's friends and family. My wife and I were on a trip to Arizona and we get the call from my mom telling me that my dad passed away. So We turn around and head back to California. None of it made sense. Adrian's loved ones say they don't believe he would cheat on Olga, but he did have enemies. we learned that Adrian had a business thing go bad. Adrian had decided with two of his friends to open a Peruvian restaurant. Adrian and his partn took out a sizable loan to get the business off the ground. for a while it was doing well. then the restaurant started kind of going sideways. think at some point not everybody was pulling their weight in that business and They split up. partners, I think at some point blamed Adrian. They felt that he owed them $30,000 because of this. It was posited that perhaps one of the individuals who had bled bad blood from this bad restaurant deal might have had a motive to kill Adrian Zapata. Detectives get in touch with Adrian's former business partners. Both men are adamant they would never commit murder over $30,000. They weren't at the crime scene, they had alibis where they were. Quite honestly, during those interviews, it didn't appear they really had a motive to kill Adrian. They had no benefit to want him dead. They weren't happy about the business, but they didn't hate him or anything like that. It just it the businesses didn't work out. With his former business partners now in the clear, investigators must focus on the potential of an affair gone wrong. They turn to Adrian's co-workers for insight into his personal life. Adrian Zapata worked as a tech The officers went and spoke with a number of Adrian Cepata's colleagues. We never found any evidence to support. The allegation that Mr. Zapata had been unfaithful to his wife. Actually we found out just the opposite. He's actually That he suspected Olga is having an affair. Before detectives look into the rumors. Autopsy results provide insight on the brutal attack that took Adrian's life. It appeared Adrian had two major head injuries. In addition to those injuries. He had seven stab wounds in his neck. There was no indication whatsoever that Adrian fought back or even knew that he was being attacked. It was as if these injuries were done while he was sleeping. Based on the coroner's findings as well as what I saw at the crime scene, somebody wanted and they wanted to make sure that he was dead. Unfortunately, the medical examiner's findings don't help narrow down any suspects or motives. The crime lab is also unable to make a match on the DNA found on the nighty. They had found an unidentified male DNA profile on it. So on June 5th, detectives meet with one of Adrian's co-workers, Ruth Sevilla, to get the details on Olga's alleged affair. Working with Adrian, we build uh a relationship, like you know, we would talk a lot about our lives. He wouldn't stop talking about Olga. Ruth tells detectives the problems between Adrienne and Olga began soon after she arrived from Peru. It was a month after he brought her to US. He told me we don't sleep together no more. She told us that the marriage started going sideways when Adrian found out through phone records, you know, that she was on the phone daily talking to somebody. Adrian was thinking that she was already cheating on him with someone, but he wanted to prove it. So that's why he called the number. There was a man that answered and when he said hello, he hang up. You're listening to this podcast, so I know you've got a curious mind. Here's a helpful fact you might not know yet. Drivers who switch and save with Progressive save over $900 on average. Pop over to progressive.com, answer some questions, and you'll get a quick quote with discounts that are easy to come by. In fact, 99% of their auto customers earn at least one discount. Visit Progressive.com and see if you can enjoy a little cash back. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates, National average 12-month savings of $946 by new customers surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2024 and May 2025. Potential savings will vary. A week into their investigation, Westminster police have discovered Olga Vasquez might have been the one stepping out on her marriage. And according to Ruth Sevilla, Adrian confronted Olga as soon as he suspected she was cheating on him. he told Olga like who who is this person? You know, I called this number and there was a man that answered the phone and she said, Oh it it was my sister's boyfriend. Ruth says Adrian didn't believe Olga, so he continued digging. He was reaching out to people in Peru. to find out if Olga was faithful to him while she was there. Adrian found out that she in fact was messing around with somebody while he was in the United States trying to get her to come here with him. Ruth had no idea who this person was. Adrian never told her a name. Armed with this new information, investigators bring Olga in to question her again. She denied having an affair. She denied the fact that Adrian ever confronted her or even accused her about having an affair. The only thing that she continued to ask us is whether or not we were accusing her of having something to do with her husband's murder. But this point in the investigation, I feel that Olga is lying to us. We had some more digging to do. Take a closer look at Olga's alibi. She had indicated that she had Taken both of her sons to school. And then after that she had gone to a gas station. Then she had gone by the UCI Medical Center to get a note for her employer for a recent surgery she had had. She then went to the restaurant where she worked as a server to drop off that note. We followed up and we saw her on surveillance cameras, credit card information, interviewed people. She went the location she told us she went the day of the murder. This time detectives knew that we had to do something else. We had put the tracker on. Augus vehicle. Additionally we did physic meaning We had multiple undercover officers and detectives out watching her. Almost immediately, the tracking device leads investigators to a hotel. Police are able to get the surveillance videos and it shows Ms. Vasquez and her children checking into that hotel. And we saw that she had met up with a male Hispanic. and he seemed to be very friendly with her and her kids as if they all knew each other very well. It was obvious that she was being romantic with this person. At one point. Olga come out of her room during the nighttime hours and meet with this male. appear to go back with this male into his room. Within Two or three hours later. She exited the second room that she had entered and went back to her original room. You don't just leave a room in the middle of the night. and leave your children behind for several hours unless there's some sort of affair going on. They were able to determine his identification by going to the front desk of the hotel. According to the registry, Olga's lover is Roberto Savedra. Detectives learned that Roberto had just arrived to the United States from Peru. On March 4th, 2014, Mr. Zivedra lawfully entered the United States. He was on a 32-day vacation travel visa. He did not board his returning flight. Almost three months after his arrival, Adrian was murdered. And detectives want to know if Roberto was involved. One of the officers wanted to be able to obtain the DNA. of Mister Zavedra. in a lawful but surreptitious manner. And so he actually took the water bottle that had been used by Mr. Zavedra. Olga was having an affair and not only is she lying to us about it. She's trying to make it look like Adrian was the one having an affair. Basically get us to not look into her. There's a point at which If you find that a person is repeatedly lying to you. then it makes you reconsider Everything that they've said. So At this point, it kind of gives us a motive, maybe Olga doesn't want Adrian in the picture no longer. Ninguno. A murder plot unfolds. The two cell phones had communicated in a way where they were almost timing things. And detectives catch the co-conspirators on tape. Ten buenas noticias, parece que encontraron una de. Recent evidence suggests to police that Olga Vasquez isn't the grieving widow she's been pretending to be. It was obvious at this point that Olga was lying. She was lying about having an affair, for sure. Detectives believed that the next step was to figure out how far back this relationship went. In order to do that, detectives wrote several search warrants for both her phone records and his phone records. While they wait for their warrants to come through, investigators ask Adrian's family in Peru what they thought of Olga. We interviewed a cousin of Adrian's Who still lived in Peru, Mercedes Rojas. She knew Orga. prior to Adrian marrying her. Mercedes believed that Olga was an opportunist and that the only reason she wanted to marry Adrian was so that Adrian could bring her and her sons over to the United States. According to Adrian's loved ones, however, life in California didn't satisfy Olga. It was Not what she expected. Coming from a penthouse in Peru to an apartment in West Minister in California. Olga seemed disappointed because she thought he was better off than he actually was. Adrian's loved ones say, in the months before his death, Adrian finally realized he'd never be able to please her. Adrian had confided that You know, they weren't being intimate, that he planned on potentially divorcing her. the divorce between he and Olga would affect her immigration status as well as the immigration status of her son. If you get a divorce, you're going back to Peru, and you're not gonna be able to stay here in the United States. In the event of Adrian's death, however, Olga would have been able to retain her immigration status and more. Detectives learned that Adrian had a four o' one K with a value of about sixty two thousand a life insurance of about seventy eight thousand dollars and the beneficiary for both of those policies was older. It appeared at this point in the investigation that Olga had lots of motive to have Adrian dead. When detectives receive Olga and Roberto's phecs, they find evidence to back up the theory. It was discovered that the cell phone that Roberto was using. was actually registered under Ogre. the communication between the two seemed to be very personal, almost loving and doting. We found out that Olga and Roberto. who were communicating pretty frequently stopped all of a sudden. Investigators suspect that 11 months before Adrian's murder, They simply got better at covering their tracks. Roberto started communicating with an unknown member. Those phone calls. Locations were coming from this from Olga's apartment in Westminster. We did a search one on that phone number. figured out, hey, whoa, this phone is everywhere old is that. So it was very obvious that this was a phone that Olga was using that we were unaware of that she didn't tell us about. According to those phone records, their illicit affair wasn't the only thing Olga and Roberto discussed. Appeared. That the secret phone And Roberto's phone we're communicating. On the night of the homicide as well as the night before. His phone shows The night prior to the murder, he comes to Westminster. And he's staying just outside the apartment complex. until about 8 a.m. Then his phone goes off for a short time. At some point after 830 a.m. that communication began back up. based off of information from the coroner and evidence at the scene, it appeared as though the homicide most likely took place around that eight A. mark when There was no communication. GPS shows that when Roberto's phone was turned back on, it was in the same location as Olga's secret phone. The secret phone no longer follows Ms. Vasquez's phone from tower to tower, but instead goes to Van Eyes and starts following all the towers of Mr. Zavedra's phone. We think that she gave him the secret phone and he took it to Vanice. It seemed to only point to one reasonable conclusion. That Miz Vasquez knew she was coming home. to the murdered body of her husband and didn't want to have Her secret phone with evidence of that murder in her possession at that time. It was becoming very obvious to us that Roberto and Olga With. Adrian's dead. prove their theory, investigators obtain a warrant to wiretap Olga's phone. Nomás llamado, ¿no? No, preferiría que no. It was very obvious that Olga was very paranoid in communicating with Roberto. Although they were talking on the phone they were very careful about what they were saying. They decide to do what's called a ruse. The idea is that they want to stimulate a conversation between Ms. Vasquez and Mr. Zavedra, and what they choose to do is the possibility of DNA evidence. We use a ruse. to get them thinking, huh? After months of investigation, Roberto Saavedra and Olga Vasquez have become the prime suspects in her husband's murder. Since the wiretap on Olga's phone isn't providing detectives with the proof they need, They decide to give the coup a push. We told her that we found some DNA that we believe was the killer's on Adrian's body and suspected it might be someone that lived internationally. This was a lie. Just to see if they would talk about it on the wire. Bien, huh? Detectives are hoping one of them will mention the murder next, but Olga quickly changes the subject. She probably thinks we are listening to the phone call and that's why she doesn't want to talk about it. And it's very obvious to us that she doesn't want to say anything that we can hear. The next step was to confront her. On November 25, 2014, six months after Adrian's murder, investigators bring Olga back in for questioning. When they show her photos of her and Roberto at the hotel, she begins to backtrack on her previous statements. She stated she was only involved with him romantically after Adrian had already died. Olga started telling the truth about certain things that she figured she had to tell the truth about, but she denied any knowledge of the murder. Tenemos todos los textos que existe con usted. Rumber. That's the I am. Okay. Yo no tengo ese número, yo no he tenido ese número. Yo no sé por qué me están diciendo que eso es mío. ¿Te recuerdas de esos textos? Para empezar, no son textos que yo haya escrito ni sé qué significa eso. Ahí está su nombre. A la mano de usted. Okay. She always denied having a second cell phone and she would often cut off the detectives from communicating about said cell phone. The more I pressed her, the angrier she got. I'm thinking, why lie about those things if you're not trying to cover up something? Eventually, Olga stops talking altogether and asks for a lawyer. If detectives are going to prove she and Roberto conspire to kill Adrian. They'll have an uphill battle. There was mountain full of records for us to review. We had to go through every single piece of information. Detectives spend months combing through the paperwork. Most of the communication was in Spanish, so we had to utilize Spanish speaking officers and detectives to decipher what's being said. This takes a lot of time. Messages showed that they were involved in a sexual and romantic relationship a year before the murder. There was a lot of Skype phone calls that were placed between the two. Some of these Skype messages included them communicating with each other in which they stated that soon they would both be together forever. It's exactly what police are looking for. And lab tests on the water bottle from Roberto provides the last piece of the puzzle. In May of 2016, the Orange County Crime Lab notified me that the secondary sample of Roberto Survavor that I we collected during the surveillance was a match. the DNA on the white and pink nighty found in Adrian's car. The DNA was important because it would show that the Nighty and Condoms were in fact planted in the trunk. It doesn't prove it definitively, but it's evidence that seems to suggest that. After two years and thousands of man hours, investigators believe they finally have enough to make arrests. But when they show up at Roberto's home, they discover their suspect left town weeks ago. So one of the things I had to do is find him. Just as Westminster homicide detectives prepare to make arrests in the murder of Adrian Zapata, they learn that Roberto Saavedra has fled the United States. Now, Westminster police will need to convince Canadian authorities to deport him. I notified the Canadian government that we you know we we were charging him with murder. Based on that, they refused his refugee status and kicked him out. In October 2017, over three years after Adrian was murdered, Roberto lands in Peru. Interpol arrested him and uh we had to start the extradition process from Peru to bring it back to the United States. Extradition takes another two years. Even though she's the prime suspect in Adrian's murder, Olga's status as a widow has allowed her to stay in the U.S. The reason that we waited so long to arrest Olga was because we wanted to wait until we got Servedra in the United States. Because I want to try them together. We could have arrested Olga a lot sooner. Instead I kept tabs on her. And as detectives coordinate Roberto's arrest with Olga's, they discover she's moved on to a new boyfriend. found out that Olga and her new friend had gone to prove her short vacation. Mr. Zevedra was arriving in March of 2019, which by coincidence was also the same day that Ms. Vasquez returned from a flight to Peru. March 15, 2019 They are both taken into custody without incident. My last and final interview with Olga was a short one. During that interview, she finally admits she did have the secret film. Entonces te va a creer Good. Tú no le dijiste a Barbberry que matara a tu... Sí, me asusté y no dije la verdad. Pero, pero eso no quiere decir que yo he matado a alguien. Prosecutors try to get Roberto to turn on Olga, but he refuses to talk. It will be up to a jury to decide if the evidence is enough to convict them. Ms. Vasquez was the first of the two defendants to go to trial in May of twenty twenty one. And my strategy was to try to present as much circumstantial evidence as possible, but to create a timeline. To show how all of these pieces and parts all fit together to One conclusion. The strongest evidence was the cell phone data that showed that Roberto traveled the night prior to the homicide from Van Ice. Down to Westminster. Waited outside Adrian's apartment. until Olga left, leaving the door unlocked for him. He does the murder. and he takes that secret phone knowing that Olga's gonna go home to find this body. When you put it all together, it showed the two of them had planned and committed this murder. Olga snapped because she wanted to be with the person she loved, Roberto. She does the murder because she wants to stay in the United States and she also has a financial gain. of his life insurance policy in his 401k and the condo in Peru. Olga's attorney argues there's no phys tying Olga to the crime. But even without it, the state's case is compelling. The jury would deliberate for slightly less than two and a half hours and they would find her guilty of murder in the first degree. She was sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison.