A man who pleaded no contest to fatally stabbing a father and a daughter in a Kohl’s parking lot in Palmdale was sentenced on Monday, July 15, to 30 years to life in state prison.
Superior Court Judge Emily Cole imposed the term on Carlos Francogonzalez, now 37, who pleaded no contest last week in a Lancaster courtroom to two counts of second-degree murder as prospective jurors waited outside for his trial to begin.
The case stems from an Oct. 27, 2022, attack on Kenneth and McKenna Evans in the store’s parking lot in the 39800 block of 10th Street West.
Francogonzalez asked 54-year-old Kenneth Evans for assistance with his vehicle, and an argument ensued that ended with both victims getting stabbed, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department shortly after the crime.
McKenna Evans, 22, died at the scene and her father died at a hospital.
Speaking on behalf of her husband and daughter, a visibly emotional Elizabeth Evans told the defendant, “You are the absolute embodiment of evil — a monster. … You are what you did.”
She brought two large photos to court of her husband and daughter and urged the defendant to take “a good, hard look” at the pictures and said she hoped he carried the images with him for the rest of his life.
“The damage you’ve done can never be undone,” she told Francogonzalez.
Francogonzalez — who turned 36 the day of the killings — was taken into custody that afternoon and has remained behind bars since then, jail records show.
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