Man convicted of killing ex-girlfriend and leaving her and 4 kids to die in Sacramento River

A man who shot and killed his ex-girlfriend and left her body in a car sinking in the Sacramento River with her kids was convicted of murder this week, Sacramento County prosecutors announced.

Mandiko Kwadzo was convicted Wednesday by a jury of using a firearm in the murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm and faces 53 years to life in prison at his sentencing Sept. 6, the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office said in a news release.

On July 27, 2020, West Sacramento police officers responded to a report of shots fired; a witness said they saw Kwadzo and 23-year-old Carliena Clayton arguing in the driveway of her home.

Clayton was seen getting into a car with her four children while Kwadzo got into the passenger seat as they pulled out of the driveway, police said. When officers got to the scene, they found evidence of a shooting inside the house.

That night, a man at Cliff's Marina in Sacramento heard a gunshot and a car crash into the river, authorities said. The man called over his friend and both went to the crash to help and saw Clayton's car in the water with Kwadzo standing nearby, not doing anything to help.

Clayton was unresponsive in the driver's seat and her children in the backseat. Her 6-year-old child had unbuckled everyone's seat belts, but the 2-year-old was still in a car seat. The two men rescued all the children from the car, authorities said.

Clayton didn't have a pulse, according to CHP officers who responded, and had severe bleeding from her head. She was eventually pronounced dead at the scene. The first responding officers initially believed the family had gotten into a car accident, but the oldest child told officers that Kwadzo shot his mother and Kwadzo was arrested.

According to prosecutor Allison Dunham, Clayton was driving when Kwadzo shot her twice in the head in front of her four children while he sat in the passenger seat. The car then went over the levy and into the river; Kwadzo got out of the car once it came to a rest in the river.

The gun was never found.

Clayton's friend told CBS News that at the time of her death, Clayton had just purchased a home in the Sacramento area for herself and her children.

"Carliena lost her life by somebody she was sleeping with every single night, so you never know what's going through someone's head," Aseanijanique White said.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times .