Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

“He shot her.” “No, he shot her.”

Codefendants blame each other for killing Mayorama Rodriguez

Destin Lee Withers and Jeffrey McCreary
Destin Lee Withers and Jeffrey McCreary

“After he killed her, I drove away with the body,” said Jeffrey McCreary while in the witness box this week. “That made me an accessory, afterward.”

But McCreary said it was his codefendant who pulled the trigger of the gun that killed 20-year-old Mayorama Denise Rodriguez on February 1, 2012.

“I hear four rounds go right by my ear,” said Destin Lee Withers when he got his chance to speak to the jury. Withers claimed he was the one driving the Mercedes when his pal in the front passenger seat — McCreary — turned toward the backseat and shot Rodriguez four times with a 9mm handgun.

Sponsored
Sponsored

On May 12, the jury began hearing evidence in the trial. Rodriguez's body was found at the side of a dead-end road in the 28300 block of Lawrence Welk Court in Escondido.

Withers claimed his reaction was, “I said, ‘Dude, what the fuck?’” Then he alleged to have told McCreary, “This is your fucking problem” before he sent McCreary away to dump the body, clean up the blood, and fix the bullet-punctured car, which belonged to Withers’s wife.

Mrs. Withers has been attending the trial. At one point, when the jury had been excused from the room, judge Blaine Bowman cautioned the woman to contain her expressions.

McCreary claimed that when his codefendant shot the woman, “I was shocked.” He admitted to the jury “I dumped the body” but “I didn’t plan it that way.” McCreary said he drove to his parents’ home to get a sponge mop to clean blood in a crease of the backseat.

McCreary, 43, and Withers, 38, both have extensive criminal histories and both admitted using meth.

The jury of ten men and two women will sort it all out after they hear closing arguments on Monday afternoon, June 9, in San Diego’s North County Superior Courthouse.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

The vicious cycle of Escondido's abandoned buildings

City staff blames owners for raising rents
Next Article

Wild Wild Wets, Todo Mundo, Creepy Creeps, Laura Cantrell, Graham Nancarrow

Rock, Latin reggae, and country music in Little Italy, Oceanside, Carlsbad, Harbor Island
Destin Lee Withers and Jeffrey McCreary
Destin Lee Withers and Jeffrey McCreary

“After he killed her, I drove away with the body,” said Jeffrey McCreary while in the witness box this week. “That made me an accessory, afterward.”

But McCreary said it was his codefendant who pulled the trigger of the gun that killed 20-year-old Mayorama Denise Rodriguez on February 1, 2012.

“I hear four rounds go right by my ear,” said Destin Lee Withers when he got his chance to speak to the jury. Withers claimed he was the one driving the Mercedes when his pal in the front passenger seat — McCreary — turned toward the backseat and shot Rodriguez four times with a 9mm handgun.

Sponsored
Sponsored

On May 12, the jury began hearing evidence in the trial. Rodriguez's body was found at the side of a dead-end road in the 28300 block of Lawrence Welk Court in Escondido.

Withers claimed his reaction was, “I said, ‘Dude, what the fuck?’” Then he alleged to have told McCreary, “This is your fucking problem” before he sent McCreary away to dump the body, clean up the blood, and fix the bullet-punctured car, which belonged to Withers’s wife.

Mrs. Withers has been attending the trial. At one point, when the jury had been excused from the room, judge Blaine Bowman cautioned the woman to contain her expressions.

McCreary claimed that when his codefendant shot the woman, “I was shocked.” He admitted to the jury “I dumped the body” but “I didn’t plan it that way.” McCreary said he drove to his parents’ home to get a sponge mop to clean blood in a crease of the backseat.

McCreary, 43, and Withers, 38, both have extensive criminal histories and both admitted using meth.

The jury of ten men and two women will sort it all out after they hear closing arguments on Monday afternoon, June 9, in San Diego’s North County Superior Courthouse.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Filmora 14’s AI Tools Streamline Content Creation for Marketers

Next Article

The Fellini of Clairemont High

When gang showers were standard for gym class
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader