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A San Luis Obispo County jury convicted Levente Laszlo Lazar on October 21, 2019, of the premeditated murder of his mother, Athena Valentiny, and found that he murdered her for financial gain. Judge Matthew G. Guerrero sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole on December 11, 2019.

Valentiny, 64, lived in Grover Beach, San Luis Obispo County, California. Lazar, born May 7, 1992, lived in Bloomington, Indiana, and was 26 when she died. Valentiny had made a will naming her son as beneficiary. Prosecutors said Lazar had asked about the value of her property and estate within a few months before her death.

Valentiny was killed in her home on or about October 24, 2018. She died of multiple stab wounds, and prosecutors said at trial that a sharp object was driven into her neck as many as ten times. No murder weapon was recovered. Prosecutors said the home was gone through and property was taken, including the original copy of her will. Officers found her body during a welfare check on October 25, 2018.

The Grover Beach Police Department investigated with the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney's Office Bureau of Investigation. Surveillance footage showed a person matching Lazar's appearance walking away from his mother's condo on October 24. Investigators established that he had driven from Indiana to California and back, using a prepaid phone to conceal the trip. Before law enforcement found his mother's body, he searched online for news about her death while driving back to Indiana, using terms including suspect and murder.

Detectives identified Lazar as the primary suspect and traveled to Indiana to question him. Investigators from the California agencies interviewed him there on November 6, 2018, then arrested him on a single count of murder and executed several search warrants. The original will was found during a search of his home. Lazar initially lied to a district attorney's office investigator about where he had been when his mother died. He later said he made up the details because he feared being charged with drug trafficking.

Charges were filed on November 6, 2018. Testifying in his own defense, Lazar said he drove to California to buy an engagement ring for his girlfriend and about 15 grams of marijuana from a Los Angeles dispensary. He said he went to his mother's condo, found she was not there, and turned around and drove home without leaving his vehicle. He said his searches reflected concern for her safety and that his wording was affected by English not being his first language.

Deputy District Attorneys Kelly Manderino and Lindsey Bittner prosecuted the case. The outcome of any appeal is unknown.

The roughly 68-minute video is a police interview-room recording. It presents the interview itself and opens with a short narrated introduction naming the people involved.

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Part 2 of 2 of the recording described above.