A man accused of fatally stabbing a 71-year-old retiree in her National City home last week had initially posed as a door-to-door salesman before later ambushing her, beating her with a rock then attacking her with her own kitchen knives, a prosecutor alleged Monday.
Noel Trevino, who prosecutors believe was a stranger to the woman, allegedly killed Wanda Taylor when she returned alone to the house she shared with her husband on Division Street near D Avenue around noon Wednesday, prosecutors said. Court documents name the victim as Wanda Fransaw, but she has been identified by her husband in media interviews and on her LinkedIn profile as Wanda Taylor.
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Trevino, 30, pleaded not guilty Monday in Chula Vista Superior Court to charges of murder, residential burglary and resisting arrest. He is also accused of lying in wait, an allegation that, if convicted, means he could face a possible death sentence or life in prison without parole.
The courtroom gallery became emotional during Trevino’s arraignment when he walked in for his first court appearance. Taylor’s husband, Ernest, along with friends and family surrounding him, cried as Deputy District Attorney Brad Manering laid out how investigators believe his wife was killed.
Manering said that around 9:50 a.m. on the morning of attack, Trevino came to the front door of the home posing as a salesperson with a clipboard and name tag. Taylor and Trevino allegedly had a short conversation at the door before the two parted ways.
Taylor then reportedly left the house around 10:20 a.m. About 10 minutes later, surveillance video showed Trevino returning to the home, Manering said.
“He’s captured on surveillance video circling the property for about an hour,” Manering said. “During that time, he’s seen checking the locked doors throughout the home, the front door and the back door and side door.”
Around 11:40 a.m., surveillance camera footage showed that just as Taylor returned home from her errand, Trevino, who was still at the home, went into the backyard. After parking her car in the driveway and as she was entering through the side door of her house, Trevino ran up behind her with a “softball-sized rock” and struck her twice, Manering said.
Ernest Taylor, left, stands outside Chula Vista Superior Court on Friday, when suspect Noel Trevino was supposed to be arraigned. Trevino is accused of killing Ernest’s wife, Wanda, at their National City home on Aug. 20, 2025. (Caleb Lunetta / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Trevino then allegedly grabbed the knives from the Taylors’ kitchen and stabbed her with them, Manering said.
About two and a half hours later, Ernest arrived at the house and found his wife dead and a ransacked master bedroom, Manering said. National City police Sgt. Mark Segal said last week that officers then arrived and found a man matching the stranger’s description jumping from a second-story window and fleeing the scene.
Segal said officers chased the man through several backyards, and when they caught up and confronted him, he tried to run again. Officers deployed a police dog and less-lethal tools to bring him into custody.
Judge Yvonne Campos, after hearing from the prosecution, granted Manering’s request to deny Trevino bail.
“The circumstances of this crime are violent and unprovoked, there’s no known relationship between the parties, nor any rationale for the attack,” Campos said. “I am therefore deeming him both a grave danger to the community … and I also believe he is a grave risk of flight.”
Trevino’s defense attorney could not be immediately reached for comment.
Last week, Taylor’s husband shared that his wife of 35 years was a beloved friend, wife, mother and avid theater attendee.
He said she had retired as a contract supervisor with the San Diego Unified School District. He said she particularly enjoyed her work with special education students and pregnant teens during her time with the district.
“She is loved from the East Coast to the West Coast,” Ernest said Friday. “And now I’ve been receiving calls and texts from all around the country.”