Arellano was arrested 28 years after Blanca Dueñas-Arellano was murdered in the 600 block of Queens Avenue on July 26, 1999.
YUBA CITY, Calif. — Francisco Arellano, the man arrested for the 1999 murder of Blanca Dueñas-Arellano, was found guilty Wednesday, according to the Sutter County District Attorney.
Arellano was arrested 28 years after Blanca Dueñas-Arellano was murdered in the 600 block of Queens Avenue in Yuba City July 26, 1999. She was 32 years old when her estranged husband stabbed and strangled her to death, according to the DA’s office.
He was a prime suspect in her murder once an investigation began, but Arellano fled to Mexico with their two children immediately after Dueñas-Arellano’s death.
Investigators learned Arellano was living in Morales, Mexico in 2019 and began working to extradite him back to Yuba City. He was finally arrested June 22, 2022 and extradited Nov. 18, 2022 where he was then booked into the Sutter County Jail.
While Arellano testified to acting in self defense, District Attorney Jennifer Dupré says “there is no valid theory of self defense” and there is “no way that (Arellano) didn’t use more force than was reasonably necessary to defend himself against anyone.”
Sonia Dueñas, Dueñas-Arellano’s sister, previously told ABC10 Blanca was a lover of music, goofy and had a laugh everyone in their family still misses.
Arellano will be sentenced to 25 years to life in prison April 26 at 9 a.m.
