Arnel Salvatierra was a Glendale resident in 1988 when he was involved in a notable legal case and charged with murdering his father.
With the help of defense lawyer Leslie Abramson, he received juvenile probation instead of a prison sentence.
Highlights
- Arnel Salvatierra was 17-year-old when he was convicted m*rder of his father, Oscar Salvatierra.
- Arnel was not gay but a straight boy. He had a girlfriend named Teressa Kay Deburger, who was one year older than him.
- Arnel’s girlfriend was also charged with being an accomplice of the crime as she had helped in returning the gun and cleaning the clothes that were involved in the crime.
Salvatierra was 17-year-old when he committed a horrible act on his father, Oscar Salvatierra, which cost the life of Oscar.
Oscar was the marketing director for the San Franciso-based Philippine News, one of the leading Philippine newspapers in the United States.
As per the report, Oscar was k*lled when his son, Arnel, fired three shots into his head as he lay sleeping in his Glendale home on February 19, 1986.
The story of Arnel and his defense lawyer, Leslie Abramson, is told in the documentary Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, which was released on September 19, 2024.
Leslie was also the defense attorney for Lyle and Erik Menendez‘s case, who killed their parents, Jose and Mary Louise Menendez, in 1989.
Arnel Salvatierra Had A Girlfriend At That Time, So He Was Probably A Straight
In the case of Arnel Salvatierra, when he was asked why he shot his father, the 17-year-old boy of that time stated he did it out of fear.
Moreover, there was a history of Arnel being a frequent victim of his father’s beating.
In an interrogation in custody, the young boy testified that a week before the incident, his father had threatened to shoot Kill and blow his head off.
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Salvatierra further mentioned,
I didn’t have a lot of choices. It was either him or me, and I chose me.’
Arnel Salvatierra
Furthermore, in cross-examination, Arnel said the reason he committed the crime was because his father, Oscar, stopped him from seeing his girlfriend, Teressa Kay De Burger.
At that time, Arnel’s girlfriend was also charged as an accomplice of the case as she helped in laundering Arnel’s clothes and returning the handgun used in the crime.
As of 2024, there are no current life updates or whereabouts of Arnel Salvatierra; he is about 53 years old.
Analyzing his history, it is pretty sure that Salvatierra was a straight man, unlike what some rumors mentioned as “Arnel Salvatierra gay.”
However, there might have been shifts in life course on Arnel as the circumstances changed.
In the present scenario, as the documentary “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” featured Arnel’s story, it might open up more new personal information about the 17-year-old boy the world knew.
Additional Information
- Arnel Salvatierra attended Glendale High School, where his then-girlfriend, Teressa Kay Deburger, also attended.
- Arnel initially faced a potential sentence of up to 11 years in state prison, but later, he was sentenced to five years of probation.
- If he had been convicted of first-degree murder, he could have been sent to prison for up to 27 years to life.
