OXNARD : Man Sentenced in 1976 Murder Case

A former Oxnard man, who surprised police by confessing to a 1976 murder no one knew had happened, was sentenced Wednesday to a year in jail.

As he promised last week, Superior Court Judge Charles W. Campbell Jr. placed Richard Maytorena, 46, on probation for five years, to include the jail sentence. He also ordered Maytorena to pay $1,500 in restitution to the victim’s family and abstain from all alcohol use for the next five years.

Maytorena, a Riverside County plumber, has been in the Ventura County Jail since February, when he confessed to killing a 24-year-old body-shop worker who died of smoke and soot inhalation after his car burned on an Oxnard street July 16, 1976.

Investigators at the time concluded that the fire and death were accidental.

Maytorena set the fire to destroy evidence because he believed he had accidentally killed Claude W. Bloomquist II during a bar fight, according to court records. After he confessed to the slaying, Maytorena was surprised to learn that Bloomquist was alive after the fight and died in the fire.

He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Peter D. Kossoris had urged a prison sentence for Maytorena, citing the seriousness of the crime and saying the defendant already got a break because he was not charged with first-degree murder.

However, the judge noted that no one would have known a murder occurred if Maytorena had not come forward. Campbell said he also considered that Maytorena has only a minor criminal record and has had no legal problems since 1985.