Calif. man stabbed and strangled postpartum girlfriend, hid her remains in a suitcase

SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY, Calif. (TCN) -- A 29-year-old man has been sentenced to 74 years to life in prison in connection with the 2021 death of his girlfriend and an attack on his girlfriend’s mother.

According to the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office, 24-year-old Brandi Hornsby was last seen on Sept. 30, 2021. She had given birth about six weeks earlier, and D’Angelo Webb was the father of her child. Family members tried to contact Hornsby over the next few days but were unable to reach her.

Hornsby’s mother, Tonya Wilkerson, became concerned about her daughter’s safety and asked her son go with her to Hornsby’s residence to check on her. When they got to the house, Webb attacked Wilkerson with a knife, pulled her to the garage, and stomped on her head, according to the DA.

Webb then took his infant daughter and stole Wilkerson’s car to flee the home. KXTV reports Webb dropped the infant off at a family member’s home. Wilkerson’s son arrived at Hornsby’s home a few minutes later.

Inside the residence, family members found a suitcase in the kitchen that smelled of decomposition. Hornsby’s remains were inside the suitcase, and it was later determined she had been strangled and stabbed, according to the DA.

Yahoo! News reports Webb was arrested at a family member’s home on Oct. 9, 2021 after a five-hour standoff. He was found guilty in November 2024 of first-degree murder with use of a knife, attempted murder with use of a knife, corporal injury to a spouse or cohabitant with use of a knife and great bodily injury, unlawful taking or driving of a vehicle, and child endangerment. 

Webb has previous convictions for robbery and domestic violence in Fresno County, California, KCRA reports.

Webb was sentenced to 74 years to life in prison on Sept. 9, according to the DA.

A statement from District Attorney Ron Freitas says in part, “The defendant committed a horrific and calculated act of violence that took the life of a young mother and left her family to endure unimaginable pain. He murdered Brandi Hornsby, brutally attacked her mother, and endangered his own infant daughter as he fled the scene. This sentence ensures that he will spend the rest of his life in prison and will never again inflict this kind of violence on another family.”

An obituary for Hornsby describes her love of basketball throughout her childhood and teen years and says she was “overwhelmed with happiness to become a mother enjoying bonding with her baby girl, Giana, for six weeks of GG’s life. Our family will make sure she grows up knowing who her mother was how much she loved GG.”

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