Woman listens in horror on phone as best friend, 25, is brutally murdered

Laura Sardinha was terrified of her abusive boyfriend and eventually managed to get her locks changed but that didn’t stop her killer from finding a way in

Talented cook Laura Sardinha, 25, was working in a bar, but had big dreams of going to culinary school^[1]. Laura enjoyed sharing her cookies and bakes with loved ones and had the potential to turn professional. But in 2019, she was involved in a motorcycle accident^[2], which sadly put an end to her ambition.

As well as other injuries, Laura’s right arm and hand were so badly damaged that movement was limited. She wasn’t even able to cut lemons or do other tasks in the bar, so she had to change careers^[3] completely.

READ MORE: Innocent Brit lured to USA to help kill lover’s partner as he’s partially decapitated^[4]READ MORE: Pub chef offers mum, 36, something to eat before she ends up in freezer for sexual kicks^[5]

Laura received a $750,000 settlement from the accident and wanted to put it to good use. She planned on taking a psychology course and opening a therapy business to help others, including women in abusive relationships.

In June 2020, Laura met Craig Charron, 39. He’d been in the US Air Force and their relationship progressed quickly. Charron moved into Laura’s apartment in Huntington Beach, California, and friends started to hear less from her. It was all part of his plan to isolate and control Laura.

Manipulation

Charron managed to manipulate vulnerable Laura into giving him nearly $100,000 of her settlement money. After a large transfer of money to him, he messaged her to say, “Thank you for showing me that you are all mine.” Laura had found herself in an abusive relationship.

It soon turned violent. In one text on 15 August, Charron asked Laura where she was going and she replied, “Locking myself in a box so you can’t beat me any more.” She also messaged him saying, “You keep hitting me.” He bluntly replied, “Massage my calves or end this relationship.”

Laura went to the police for a restraining order and told them Charron had hit her so hard he had perforated her eardrum, and that she was struggling to hear and drive. Charron told officers it was a result of “rough sex” and persuaded her to drop the charges. They had only been seeing each other for three months, but Charron refused to move out. Laura was getting more frightened by the day.

On 2 September 2020, Laura woke up with Charron who’d allegedly demanded oral sex, which she had refused. She was so frightened that she recorded herself begging him to move out. “You terrify me, because you don’t leave,” she cried. He could be heard saying, “All I want is to be with you.”

Charron reacted by filming himself in the apartment saying, “Oh my God, don’t hit me… Laura, why are you hitting me?” Laura was clearly on the other side of the room. When he finally left, phone records showed that he bombarded her with calls and texts. Bravely, Laura didn’t answer.

Just before noon, she went to the apartment block’s office to ask if her locks could be changed. The manager saw Charron approaching and let Laura hide inside, then walked her back to her flat. Shortly after, a maintenance man changed her locks. Laura told loved ones that Charron was locked out, and they were so relieved.

But at 1.15pm, Charron managed to get back into the apartment. He said later he’d walked in through an unlocked door but that was never confirmed. At the time, Laura was on a three-way call with her mum Marie and her best friend. They heard her cry, “Oh my God, he’s here.” She started yelling and screaming, “That hurts, please stop.”

Laura’s horrified friend and mum both hung up to call 911. Her mum jumped in the car and headed over as fast as she could. But it was too late.

Emergency services had also raced to the scene – and found a bloodbath. Laura was dead in the bathroom, with stab wounds to her chest and head. Her face had been slashed and her nose almost sliced off. Charron was slumped in the hallway, bleeding from neck and chest wounds. He was taken to hospital for treatment.

He’d used two knives to stab Laura, because the first, a tomato knife, had bent when it hit her skull. He’d used a third, a steak knife, on himself and investigators believed that he tried to make it look like Laura had attacked him.

It was discovered that, as she was being attacked, Laura had called her best friend back and left a 37-second voicemail in which she screamed, “He’s going to kill me! Oh my God, get away from me.” Charron wasn’t heard on the voicemail – he was too busy plunging a knife into Laura. Then the line went dead.

Last phone call

At the trial this year, the prosecution said Charron had killed Laura because she’d dared to walk away from his abuse and he’d wanted full control of her. There seemed to be a historic pattern in his behaviour.

Three of Charron’s ex-girlfriends, who had all taken restraining orders out against him between 2013 and 2018, testified about his violence. One had been choked and hit with a wine bottle, another slapped and had vodka poured over her head, and a third was pinned against a wall. In 2016, Charron was also convicted of aggravated assault after an unprovoked attack against two men.

The prosecution played the voicemail in which Laura was screaming and Charron was silent. They said it showed a “depravity and focused cruelty that is deeply disturbing”. They pointed out that the crime scene was covered in blood because Laura had fiercely tried to defend herself.

Charron took the stand and said the crime was “hazy” in his memory, but claimed he’d acted in self-defence when Laura had come at him with a knife. “I didn’t quite comprehend what was happening in the moment,” he said. “It was taking me a second to understand I’m being cut up.”

His lawyer said he was out of control during the “heat of passion” and had defended himself but “went too far”.

The prosecution said Charron had attempted to leave the scene but saw sirens and a police helicopter so he had returned to the flat, cut himself and planted the knife near Laura’s body. An expert testified that Charron’s lacerations were consistent with hesitation wounds – meaning they were self-inflicted.

The jury was reminded that Charron was six feet tall and 220 pounds – nine inches taller than Laura and over 100 pounds heavier. All the evidence pointed to her trying to fight off her attacker – while struggling with a hand injury that meant she couldn’t even cut a lemon successfully. “It doesn’t matter if he self-inflicted wounds or if she defended herself,” the prosecution said. “He was the aggressor 100% of the time.”

The prosecution told the jury that Laura had tragically narrated her own murder during that voicemail. “You don’t hear the defendant on it, and his silence is absolutely deafening,” they said. “He’s enjoying taking his time killing her.”

Charron was found guilty of murder. Laura’s mum, Marie Sardinha, made a statement and said that all her daughter wanted was to be free of the abuse.

“I miss Laura every day,” she said. “I miss hearing her play the piano, especially at our Christmas^[6] parties. I miss watching her sashay around the kitchen, singing while baking… I miss her smile, her laughter, her voice, I miss sharing her life.”

Laura’s brother, Shawn Sardinha, said he had struggled to find reasons to live after his sister’s death, and her dad Manuel said his daughter’s laugh had been infectious and a constant source of joy in their home.

At the sentencing in July, Judge Michael Cassidy called the killing “senseless and brutal” and gave Charron the maximum sentence of 26 years to life in prison. Charron made no statement and issued no apology for the life he ended too soon.