The owner of a boat used by a Chula Vista man to dump his roommate’s body in a barrel that was found floating in San Diego Bay pleaded guilty Wednesday to unlawful disposal of a body.
Derrick Spurgeon, 41, admitted to Chula Vista Superior Court Judge Garry Haehnle he was aware there was a body in a 55-gallon barrel before it was pushed into the bay in October 2017.
Omar Medina, 28, was found in the barrel in which cinderblocks had been attached. He had been stabbed 66 times. Medina, of Chula Vista, was a music producer.
The victim’s roommate, Timothy John Cook, 54, was found guilty of second-degree murder on Dec. 5, 2019. Cook was sentenced Jan. 6 to 56 years to life in prison.
Cook had been convicted of attempted murder in which he shot a man who lost an eye in the 1990’s and other felony convictions that resulted in him getting a “three strikes” prison term.
The jury in Cook’s trial deadlocked 10-2 for Spurgeon as to whether he acted as an accessory after the fact. The accessory charge was dismissed by Haehnle after Spurgeon’s guilty plea to unlawful disposal of a body.
The family of Medina was listening to audio of the court proceedings online Wednesday, said Deputy District Attorney Cherie Somerville.
The court is partially closed so the attorneys appeared remotely on a video feed. Spurgeon was seen on a screen from a room at the George Bailey Detention Facility where he has been housed since April 4, 2018.
Spurgeon also pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a controlled substance as well as robbery of an acquaintance in June, 2017 in which the man was injured and had all of his possessions stolen near Lemon Grove.
Spurgeon will receive a total sentence of 10 years and eight months in prison in all three cases, said Somerville. Sentencing was set for Jan. 21.
Spurgeon was facing retrial on the accessory charge but now that won’t happen. Spurgeon stored the boat at his El Cajon residence and traffic cameras captured the journey of Cook and Spurgeon on their way to Chula Vista to enter the bay with the barrel.
The traffic cameras showed the pair getting into the boat and then returning, minus the barrel.
Cook will be eligible for parole in December 2042, according to online records for the state Department of Corrections.
At sentencing, Cook wrote a letter to the judge that said he found Medina stabbed to death in his home, and decided that he should get rid of the body, fearing he would be blamed because of his criminal record.
Cook said “I kicked him out” of his home earlier because Medina was messy. Cook wrote he was angry at Medina because Medina was intoxicated at times.
“The real killer is out there,” wrote Cook, who added “I did what I had to do…to cover up the crime.”
Somerville said at sentencing that Cook was “a poster child for the three strikes law.”
