A South Bay woman pleaded guilty Feb. 24 to conspiracy to obstruct justice in lying to authorities over the whereabouts of her husband who is accused of murdering his wealthy boyfriend in Mexico at the time.
Taylor Marie Langston, 22, faces up to 20 years in federal prison when she is sentenced May 5 by U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey Miller. She remains free on $50,000 bond.
David Enrique Meza, 26, of Otay Mesa, is charged with killing Jake Merendino, 52, who was found stabbed to death May 2, 2015 in a ravine off the highway between Rosarito and Ensenada. Meza and Langston later married before they were arrested in December 2015.
Meza is set for trial on April 10 in San Diego on a federal charge of committing a murder of an American citizen in Mexico. He has pleaded not guilty and remains in the Metropolitan Correctional Center without bail.
Langston admitted to the charge that she impeded an official murder investigation by falsely saying she and Meza were together on May 1-2 at someone’s house in Tijuana. When that person was interviewed by authorities, he said he last saw Meza and Langston at a pool hall in Chula Vista, court documents say.
Meza is accused of luring Merendino out of a Rosarito hotel by saying his motorcycle that Merendino gave him for Christmas in 2014 had broken down. Merendino told hotel security at 1 a.m. he was leaving to help a friend stranded at the road. His body was found at 3:33 a.m. Meza crossed into the U.S. on his motorcycle at 3:57 a.m., and Langston crossed separately into the U.S.25 minutes later in a black SUV, according to court documents.
Meza met Merendino online in 2013. They stayed at various hotels including the Hercor Hotel in Chula Vista. A handwritten will on Hercor Hotel stationary was cited by Meza that claimed to name him sole beneficiary of Merendino’s estate. It was dated December 2014. Merendino had already prepared a will in 1998, and Meza tried to use the handwritten will in probate court in Texas.
Authorities searched the Imperial Beach apartment where Meza and Langston lived on June 4, 2015, and they found Merendino’s I-pad in their possession. Langston was pregnant at the time of the slaying and since has given birth. The couple was arraigned on Christmas Eve in 2015.
