A Turlock man will be spending the next several decades in prison for killing a woman he had known for just two days.

A Stanislaus County jury had previously convicted Alfonso Phillip Cervantes, 49, of Turlock of premediated first-degree murder and found true he discharged a firearm in the death of 30-yearold Nicolette Ciabatti. The verdict came in on Aug. 26, 2024.

On Jan. 7, the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office announced that Cervantes had been sentenced to 50 years to life.

On Jan. 19, 2020, Cervantes was driving his car with Ciabatti as his passenger. They had met two days prior. At about 2:00 a.m. Cervantes, armed with a loaded handgun, pulled over on McHenry Avenue just south of Stewart Road and shot Ciabatti six times, killing her. 

After shooting Ciabatti, Cervantes left her on the side of the road and drove to Oakdale where he called 911 from the parking lot of the former Kmart building. 

The Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office and the Escalon Police Department searched McHenry Avenue and located Ciabatti’s body. She had two gunshot wounds to the head, three wounds to her back and one wound to her side.

Cervantes admitted to shooting Ciabatti, but claimed it was in self-defense. The firearm used to commit the murder, the number and location of rounds fired, the injuries to Ciabatti, physical and forensic evidence and Cervantes’ statement proved otherwise.