Monica testifies, “He made me believe he loved me.

Then when I wanted to leave my fiance for him, he threatened me.

He said if I told anyone about us, he’d say I forced myself on him.

” Testimony from

Lisa Tran, psychologist specializing in coercive control and trauma bonding.

She testifies Sarah exhibits classic signs of being victimized by a sophisticated manipulator.

The rehearsal video, which the prosecution presents as evidence of guilt, I see as evidence of control.

Carlos was directing her, coaching her, using her traumatized state to shape her behavior.

Character witnesses for Sarah, her best friend Emily.

Sarah is the kindest person I know.

She would never hurt anyone.

She was terrified of Carlos after David died.

Her mother, Linda.

My daughter is not a murderer.

She was manipulated by a predator.

The laptop folder with 47 videos of other women.

The defense argues this proves Carlos has done this before, targeted women, manipulated them, possibly harmed their partners.

Though the content of the other videos isn’t shown in court, many are consensual intimate recordings.

The existence of the folder establishes pattern.

And finally, Sarah’s own testimony.

She takes the stand on February 14th, 2024, Valentine’s Day.

The irony is not lost on anyone.

She testifies for 2 days.

Admits the affair.

Admits telling David she wanted a divorce.

admits going to Carlos’s room that night, but she denies planning David’s murder.

I never wanted David dead.

I just wanted to be free from a marriage I shouldn’t have entered.

When David showed up at Carlos’s door, I was scared.

David was angry in a way I’d never seen before.

He grabbed my face so hard I thought he’d break my jaw.

Carlos got between us to protect me.

David picked up the lamp.

He swung it at Carlos.

They fought over it.

I was screaming for them to stop.

Then David got the lamp and came at me with it.

Carlos grabbed him from behind.

They struggled.

The lamp hit David.

David fell.

We didn’t know he was dead.

Carlos told me he was probably just unconscious.

That head wounds bleed a lot, but he’d be okay.

Then Carlos said we had to call the police, but we needed to get our story straight because if we told them about the affair, they might not believe it was self-defense.

I was in shock.

I did what he told me because I didn’t know what else to do.

James Reeves cross-examines her for 6 hours.

Ms.

Mitchell, you testified that David grabbed your face so hard you thought he’d break your jaw, but the medical examination shows only minor bruising.

Does that seem consistent with the level of violence you described? I It felt harder than it was, maybe.

I was scared.

You testified that David swung the lamp at Carlos, but the crime scene shows no blood spatter consistent with a mis swing.

No impact marks on the walls from a swinging lamp.

Doesn’t that suggest your story is false? I don’t know about blood spatter patterns.

I just know what I saw.

You testified you didn’t know David was dead, but you sat in that hallway for 98 minutes.

At what point during those 98 minutes did you check if he was breathing? I don’t remember.

You don’t remember or you didn’t check.

I was in shock.

You were in shock.

But you were able to rehearse your story for Carlos’s camera.

You were able to change your clothes.

You were able to help clean up room 714.

The room that was wiped down, the bed that was stripped, the wine glasses that had your fingerprints removed.

That was done during those 98 minutes while your husband lay dying.

Were you in shock during that, too? I didn’t clean anything.

That was Carlos.

But you were there.

You were in the room while it happened, and you didn’t call for help.

Sarah has no answer.

The jury deliberates for 6 days.

January 27th, 2024.

3:47 p.

m.

The verdict.

The jury finds Sarah Mitchell guilty of secondderee murder.

Not guilty of first-degree murder.

They don’t believe she premeditated it.

Not guilty of conspiracy.

They don’t believe she and Carlos explicitly planned David’s death ahead of time, but guilty of secondderee murder.

They believe she participated in David’s death and the cover up.

The judge sets sentencing for March 15th, 2024.

Sarah’s parents sobb in the courtroom.

Gerald and Patricia Mitchell embrace, crying with relief.

March 15th, 2024.

Sarah Elizabeth Mitchell is sentenced to 18 years to life in federal prison.

eligible for parole in 2042.

She will be 47 years old.

She’s transported to Federal Correctional Institution Dublin in California.

Carlos Mendoza is still missing.

February 12th, 2025, 10 months after Sarah’s conviction, a package arrives at the FBI field office in San Diego.

Brown padded envelope, no return address, postmarked from Tijana, Mexico.

inside a USB drive.

The agent who opens it, special agent Diana Marcato, expects it to be a crank.

They get dozens of fake tips on high-profile cases.

She plugs it into an airgapped computer, opens the drive, 47 video files.

She clicks the first one dated March 15th, 2017.

The video shows a resort room, a woman approximately 30 years old, sitting on a bed crying.

A man’s voice off camera, Carlos Mendoza’s voice.

Tell me again why you love me.

The woman repeats it.

He coaches her response, makes her say it different ways.

Agent Marcato opens the next video.

Different woman, same pattern.

Next video, different woman, same pattern.

By the 10th video, Agent Marcato calls her supervisor.

By the 20th video, they’ve called the FBI behavioral analysis unit.

All 47 videos show the same thing.

Carlos Mendoza with different women in different resort rooms across 7 years.

Some of the women are aware they’re being recorded.

Most aren’t.

The camera is hidden.

Some of the videos are sexual.

Some are manipulative coaching sessions like the rehearsal video with Sarah.

And in six of the videos, women mention their partners becoming suspicious or angry or violent.

One video dated March 14th, 2021, shows a woman identified later as Melissa Tran, 28, from San Francisco.

She’s crying.

Carlos’s voice.

Jordan doesn’t deserve you.

He’s holding you back, Melissa.

But I can’t just leave him, Carlos.

What if something happened to him? What if he wasn’t in the picture anymore? Melissa, what do you mean? Carlos, just hypothetically.

Would you stay with me then, Melissa? I I don’t know.

This is crazy.

Carlos, it’s not crazy.

It’s destiny.

For days later, on March 18th, 2021, Jordan Hughes, Melissa’s fiance, drowned while swimming off a beach in Cancun.

Ruled accidental.

Melissa Tran left Mexico the next day.

She was never questioned beyond routine witness statement.

The FBI reopens the case immediately.

They track down Melissa Tran in Oakland, California.

She’s now married to someone else.

Has a one-year-old daughter.

When agents show her the video, she goes pale.

I don’t I didn’t know he was recording me.

Miss Tran, we need to ask you about Jordan Hughes’s death.

It was an accident.

Jordan went swimming drunk.

He drowned.

Jordan’s toxicology report showed no alcohol in his system.

Melissa starts crying.

I don’t I wasn’t there.

I was at the resort.

Where was Carlos Mendoza? He said he was at the resort, too.

He said he didn’t even know Jordan went to the beach until I got the call.

But hotel security footage from that day, reviewed now for the first time in 4 years, shows Carlos Mendoza leaving the resort at 2:17 p.

m.

, the same time Jordan Hughes was last seen alive.

Carlos returned at 4:02 p.

m.

Jordan’s body was found at 4:23 p.

m.

Melissa Tran is offered immunity in exchange for her full testimony.

She tells them everything.

She met Carlos on day two of her vacation.

He pursued her.

They had an affair.

She fell in love with him.

Told him she wanted to leave.

Jordan.

Carlos encouraged it.

But Jordan found out about the affair.

Confronted Carlos, threatened to report him to resort management.

The next day, Jordan drowned.

After Jordan died, Carlos told Melissa she needed to leave Mexico immediately, that if she stayed, police might suspect her.

He said he’d figure out a way for them to be together later.

She believed him.

She left.

He never contacted her again.

The FBI identifies three more suspicious deaths connected to Carlos Mendoza’s employment history.

Marcus Freeman, 32, died in a hiking accident in Tulum, October 2019.

His girlfriend, Vanessa Cole, had been having an affair with Carlos.

Marcus found out, confronted Carlos.

3 days later, Marcus fell from a cliff during a guided hike.

Vanessa left Mexico within 24 hours.

Tim Bradshaw, 29, died of accidental overdose in Puerto Viarda, July 2018.

His wife, Amanda Bradshaw, had been having an affair with Carlos.

Tim discovered it.

Two days later, Tim was found dead in his hotel room from what appeared to be self-administered fentinyl.

Amanda claimed Tim had been depressed.

She left Mexico within 48 hours.

In all three cases, Carlos Mendoza was working at the resort.

In all three cases, he had been having an affair with the deceased man’s partner.

In all three cases, the deaths were ruled accidental or self-inflicted.

In all three cases, the women left Mexico immediately and never spoke about what happened.

The FBI believes Carlos Mendoza has killed at least four men, possibly more, and he’s still out there.

As of this writing, Carlos Javier Mendoza remains on the FBI’s most wanted list.

Last confirmed sighting, October 2023, Guatemala City.

Reward for information leading to his capture, $100,000.

Sarah Elizabeth Mitchell remains incarcerated at FCI Dublin.

Her appeal was denied in November 2024.

She has participated in prison education programs, earned an associate degree in psychology.

She writes letters to her parents weekly.

They visit monthly.

She has never revealed where Carlos might be hiding.

She claims she doesn’t know.

Gerald and Patricia Mitchell visit their son’s grave every Sunday.

The headstone reads, “David Andrew Mitchell, beloved son, taken too soon.

” And somewhere in the world, possibly working at another resort under another name, Carlos Mendoza is watching someone’s Instagram, saving screenshots, making plans.

The cycle continues.

 

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