Poway man stabs cousin to death after he's hurt in crash while she was driving

A man who fatally stabbed his cousin at a Sabre Springs park pleaded guilty Monday to first-degree murder.

Uriel Cedillo, 25, faces a maximum possible sentence of 25 years to life for the Jan. 16, 2022, slaying of Fatima Marin Cedillo, according to the San Diego County District Attorney's Office. Both the defendant and his cousin were 22-year-old Poway residents at the time of the deadly stabbing, which police said occurred about 2:30 a.m.

At Cedillo's arraignment two years ago, Deputy District Attorney Vanessa Gerard said the defendant was mad at his cousin because of injuries he'd suffered in a car crash weeks earlier, in which she was driving the vehicle.

When the victim arrived at the park, she went to give the defendant a hug, the prosecutor said. But when he reached out to hug her back, Gerard said Cedillo pulled out a knife and stabbed his cousin twice in the head and three times in the torso.

Paramedics took her to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 3:45 a.m. Cedillo was arrested just over six hours later at 12500 Oak Knoll Road, according to San Diego police.