Jurors deliberated for just 15 minutes Thursday before finding a 29-year-old man guilty of carjacking and killing a CSUN student who had posted his Audi for sale on Craigslist in 2014, prosecutors announced.
Agustin Rosendo Fernandez of Long Beach was convicted of first-degree murder, with the jury of nine women and three men finding that the murder was committed during a robbery and carjacking.
Fernandez fatally stabbed 23-year-old Abdullah Alkadi, whose body was found discarded off the 10 Freeway in the Palm Springs area.
Alkadi, a Saudi Arabian third-year engineering student at Cal State Northridge, had posted his Audi A5 convertible for sale and agreed to meet with Fernandez when the defendant responded to Alkadi’s Craigslist ad.
The two met in Northridge on Sept. 17, 2014, and Alkadi’s body was not discovered till mid-October.
Fernandez stabbed Alkadi to death the day they met, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
He wanted to keep both the money and the car, police said at the time of his arrest. The case prompted warnings to the public about using online sites such as Craigslist.
Fernandez faces life in prison without parole. His sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 12.