Gruesome new details have emerged in the death of a 27-year-old woman who police say was brutally beaten to death with a fire extinguisher before her body was ditched in an alleyway behind an abandoned movie theater.
Dino Rojas-Moreno, 26, was charged Friday in the murder of Tatum Goodwin, whose badly beaten body was found by a construction worker on Nov. 12 near Carmelita’s restaurant in Laguna Beach where she worked.
“Her body was under a chain link fence on a construction site and a sandbag had been placed on her head,” prosecutors revealed in a new court filing obtained by KTLA.
Rojas-Moreno, who was arrested in Laguna Hills on Wednesday in connection to the slaying, worked as a bartender at the nearby Royal Hawaiian Fire Grill, according to the Orange County Register.
Rojas-Moreno has been accused of using a fire extinguisher as a weapon in Goodwin’s killing, which he allegedly did “in the commission and attempted commission of the crime of kidnapping,” according to Friday’s filing in Orange County Superior Court.
According to the filing, Rojas-Moreno first approached Goodwin in a parking lot around 1 a.m. and assaulted her near her parked car.
“Rojas-Moreno then forcefully dragged her to the rear of the parking lot, down a short alley, and to a secluded area behind a movie theatre that was under construction,” prosecutors said, which is where the savage beating allegedly took place.
Later that day when Rojas-Moreno failed to show up to work, he claimed he had been “jumped” by two men in Santa Ana, prosecutors said.
While the two worked at restaurants in the same town, it’s unclear whether Rojas-Moreno and Goodwin knew each other.
Orange County DA Todd Spitzer called the cruel killing “a travesty for the entire community.”
“It is heartbreaking that a young woman with her entire future ahead of her had her life ended in such a brutal way and then discarded like her life never mattered. She mattered, and the Orange County District Attorney’s Office is committed to ensuring justice is served.”
The suspect’s arrest coincided with a vigil honoring Goodwin, which was held Wednesday night in her hometown of San Clemente and was attended by hundreds of family members and friends.
“The hardest part is she was alone fighting for her life,” Goodwin’s mother, Stacy Goodwin-Pitino, told KTLA. “You’re helpless. You can’t do anything.”
Her grieving sister Kaylee Goodwin expressed regret that she was not with Tatum to keep her safe.
“I wasn’t there to protect her,” she said through tears at the vigil. “She didn’t deserve this.”
Rojas-Moreno will be arraigned on Monday. He is being held without bond.