17 December 2023 , 08:00
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The gruesome case of a cheerleader who was brutally murdered as she made her way home from a New Year's Eve party will feature as part of a crime documentary airing this week.
Valerie Zavala Wilson had returned to her hometown in Fillmore, California for Christmas in 2002 and had spent the festive season catching up with family and friends. The 19-year-old sophomore at San Jose State University never made it home from the party on December 31, with the student last seen alive by two friends who she volunteered to drive home.
The teenager's naked body was found stuffed in a concrete drainage pipe on January 1, with her abandoned car found by police a few days later. Samuel Puebla, 17, was found to have strangled Valerie to death after unsuccessfully raping her.
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Oxygen's Homicide For The Holidays are set to air details of the chilling case on Friday, December 15. Viewers will be told that Valerie had been a cheerleader at Fillmore High School before graduating with honors, and was preparing for a career as an elementary schoolteacher at San Jose State University when she was killed.
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Samuel Puebla murdered Valerie Zavala before dumping her body in a concrete drainage pipe (AP)The popular cheerleader attended the New Year's Eve party alongside cousin Robert Padilla and friend Anna Hinojosa, with the trio arriving at around 10pm. Video footage showed the 19-year-old in good spirits as she was filmed standing in the kitchen with pals during the countdown.
She was the designated driver and at around 2am offered to drive both Anna and Puebla home before planning to visit a former boyfriend afterwards. Anna was the first to be dropped off and it was on the way to Puebla's home where he launched the vicious attack.
“She took a friend’s car to drive two people home, and that was the last time anyone saw her,” Valerie's devastated father, Kevin Wilson, said at the time, via Los Angeles Times. He added that his daughter never made it to the home of her former boyfriend.
Detectives look for evidence in the parking lot of St. Francis Assisi Church (Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)At around 10am on January 1, 2003 Valerie's body was found in a concrete drainage pipe off a remote road outside Santa Paula. An autopsy revealed she died from asphyxiation and blunt trauma to the head.
"She was not only my daughter, she was my best friend," devastated mother Michelle Wilson said at the time. "On girls' night out, we watched Julia Roberts movies and ate Doritos and avocados."
Father Kevin added: "She was a bubbly, vibrant, outgoing kid. She was a very trusting person. I don’t understand why things like this have to happen to people like her."
It didn't take long for detectives to question Puebla due to him being one of the last people to see Valerie alive. He initially claimed that the cheerleader dropped him off near his house before driving off, but his story kept changing and after being told forensic tests would be carried out on Valerie's body, he claimed the pair had sex. No evidence of intercourse was found.
Heartbroken friends pay their respects to Valerie Zavala at her funeral in 2003 (Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)A few days after the murder, Valerie's underwear, stud earring and other personal items were found behind a church a short walk away from Puebla's home. Police executed a search warrant of his family home and found the jacket he had been wearing at the party covered with Valerie's blood. His shoe print also matched one found where the teenager's body had been dumped.
Puebla was arrested and charged with first degree murder, attempted rape, and the special circumstance of felony murder during the course of the attempted sexual assault, according to Santa Paula Times. During a month-long trial, the court heard Puebla tried to sexually assault Valerie before he choked her into unconsciousness when she resisted.
After regaining consciousness the cheerleader fled the car, but Puebla chased after her in the parking lot of St. Francis Assisi Church. He attacked her again, removed her clothing and then manually strangled her while leaning on her chest.
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Detectives spoke during the trial of how Valerie desperately fought for her life before she was killed. Puebla was found guilty of his crimes and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.