A Bellflower man was sentenced Friday to 26 years to life in state prison for fatally stabbing another man outside of an apartment complex two years ago during an argument, officials said.
Jeffery Ardonal Johnson, 64, was convicted by a jury in June 2019 of one count of first-degree murder, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
The jury also found true the special allegation that Johnson personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon, a knife, during the Jan. 27, 2018, killing of 24-year-old Anthony Maurice Elston of Bellflower.
Johnson’s son had children with Elston’s sister, who were in the process of moving into the same apartment complex as Johnson in the 9900 block of Ramona Street, officials said.
A fight allegedly erupted between Johnson’s son and Elston’s sister in the parking garage of the apartment complex, investigators said at the time.
“During that fight, Johnson approached Elston, who was unarmed, and fatally stabbed him once in the abdomen,” according to the District Attorney’s Office. “The defendant then left the parking garage, went to his residence, washed the blood off the knife and left the scene.”
Johnson returned to the scene about two hours later and turned himself in, officials said.
Elston was taken to a hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries the next day, sheriff’s officials said at the time.