Santa Ana man sentenced to 15 years to life for 2015 murder in Newport Beach office complex

At the Orange County Superior Court’s Central Justice Center, a nearly 7-year-long murder case came to a conclusion Tuesday with the sentencing of the Santa Ana man convicted of the second-degree murder of Sarai Alcaraz in a Newport Beach office complex in 2015.

Nain Issac Nieto Hernandez, 36, was sentenced to 15 years to life in state prison by Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard King. Hernandez was given the maximum sentence allowable for the crime of second-degree murder in California, of which he was convicted of in August.

Jurors deliberated for only two days.

“It was a horrible death [Alcaraz] did not deserve,’’ Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Goodkin said to King before sentencing.

Prosecutors said Hernandez murdered Alcaraz, 23, on the night of Dec. 28, 2015. Hernandez hired Alcaraz, who was an escort employed by Cyren Entertainment, to come to an office complex on Campus Drive after seeing an advertisement on Backpage.com.

Hernandez had access to the building because he was a janitor there.

Alcaraz came accompanied by driver Jordan Beltran, who parked out of sight at the request of Hernandez. Alcaraz reportedly entered the building after 10 p.m. and was inside for about nine minutes. At around the seven-minute mark, she sent a text to Beltran that she received a cancellation fee from Hernandez, but she never exited the building.

Prosecutors said when Alcaraz didn’t respond to any messages sent by Cyren Entertainment manager Lynda Estrada, Estrada then reported the incident to the Newport Beach Police Department who later found Alcaraz dead inside a trash can of a janitor’s closet.

She died of multiple blunt force injuries to the head, and Hernandez was arrested two days later, remaining in custody since.

At the end of the trial in August, defense attorney Cameron Talley said he respected the jury’s decision.

“They worked hard and they were a hung jury at one point, which shows the facts and the law made this a very difficult case,” said Talley at the time. “Ultimately, this was what they decided.”

City News Service contributed to this report.

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