Man kills wife’s dad, brother after refused marriage blessing, California officials say
A man accused of killing his wife’s father and brother after a refused marriage blessing has been sentenced, California prosecutors say.
After a jury found Christian Bobila guilty of two first-degree murder charges in March, he was “sentenced to two terms of life without the possibility of parole plus 50 years in state prison,” the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office said in a May 31 news release.
“This was a horrific murder that senselessly devastated an entire family,” District Attorney Summer Stephan said in the release.
An attorney representing Bobila didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment on June 6.
Bobila pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in June 2022, KUSI reported.
After “a long-simmering family schism” that began when Bobila’s married his wife “without his father-in-law’s blessing,” he drove from the Bay Area to Valley Center to “carry out his plan to kill” in June 2022, prosecutors said.
As his brother-in-law, Vincent Reyes, talked over the phone about an upcoming business trip, prosecutors said Bobila fired his semi-automatic pistol six times.
Reyes was hit three times, prosecutors said.
Afterward, prosecutors said Bobila went upstairs to his father-in-law’s bedroom.
There he found Vicente Reyes “in a recliner watching a movie while he enjoyed a glass of wine,” according to prosecutors.
Bobila told the elder Reyes: “Three years…” in reference to marrying his daughter without his blessing, prosecutors said.
Though his wife tried to stop him, prosecutors said Bobila “was determined to kill.”
He fired his pistol, striking Vicente Reyes in the chest and head, according to prosecutors.
Bobila then trekked downstairs, where he told his mother-in-law her son was dead, while gesturing to the patio, prosecutors said.
She “ran outside and found her son, Vincent, face up in a ‘Just Married’ t-shirt, boasting a date just a few weeks before,” prosecutors said.
Bobila fled the home in a black minivan, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said in a June 2022 news release.
Deputies said they pulled him over a few blocks away and arrested him.
“Although nothing is a substitute for the death of the two victims, I hope their surviving family members receive a measure of justice with the murder convictions and with today’s sentence,” Stephan said.
This story was originally published June 6, 2024 at 2:24 PM with the headline "Man kills wife’s dad, brother after refused marriage blessing, California officials say."
