Jury in Ramsey County trial hears how rough sex led to death

Michael C. Sontoya and Gabriela Romo had rough sex in the early hours of Sept. 30 after hooking up, drinking together and going back to the duplex Sontoya rented on S. Robert Street on St. Paul's West Side.

Romo was only 4-feet-11 and 100 pounds. That rough sex caused, among other injuries, a 14-inch internal laceration that damaged her spleen, diaphragm and liver, jurors heard Friday on the first day of Sontoya's trial in Ramsey County District Court.

Romo bled to death; rigor mortis was setting in by the time an ambulance was called at 6:48 a.m., according to testimony.

Sontoya, 32, is charged with first-degree murder while committing criminal sexual conduct and second-degree murder while committing first-degree assault.

In his opening statement, Assistant County Attorney Daniel Vlieger, who is prosecuting the case with County Attorney Susan Gaertner, showed photos of bloodstains on a bare mattress and the carpet, blood that someone appeared to try to clean up on the walls, blood on a stack of clothes in a plastic bag and blood and vomit in a corner.

Defense attorney Anthony Torres told the jury that Sontoya never lied about having sex with Romo that night. But there is no evidence he assaulted her sexually or otherwise and he shouldn't be convicted of killing her, Torres said.

The two had been friends since the second grade. They dated in high school, then went their separate ways. Romo had four children with her longtime boyfriend; Sontoya had three with his longtime girlfriend.

Sontoya also was seeing four or five other "ladies," some as sex partners, some not. He and Romo weren't boyfriend-girlfriend but they were "headed in that direction," Torres said.

The night of Sept. 29, the two agreed to meet for a late dinner and drinks. After drinking until closing time at Fabulous Fern's on Selby Avenue in St. Paul, they went back to Sontoya's residence. After the sex, Sontoya fell asleep. When he awoke, Romo was unconscious and not breathing, Torres said.

According to testimony, Sontoya called his brother, who is in law enforcement, then called 911 about 45 minutes after he found Romo unconscious. The jury on Friday heard the 911 dispatcher lead Sontoya through resuscitation measures.

Fawn Hawkinson, a district chief with the St. Paul Fire Department, testified that "the patient" was fully dressed and lying on the floor when she and two crews of firefighter/ paramedics arrived. She was pale, not breathing and cold, but paramedics tried for 26 minutes to revive her, Hawkinson said under questioning from Gaertner.

Hawkinson said she asked Sontoya where all the blood had come from. "From her vagina, of course," he told her.

Sontoya, meanwhile, "seemed unconcerned about the patient," she said. He didn't ask about her and stayed far away from her, she said.

David Tobold, a firefighter/paramedic, said he overheard a conversation between Hawkinson and Sontoya that led him to believe Romo had been alive "just a few moments before we got in there." That's why they took extraordinary measures to revive her, he said. Other signs indicated she had been dead for some time.

Romo's father, Jesus Romo, was the last person to testify Friday. He said his daughter lived for her children, a son, 13, and three daughters, 12, 8 and 5.

She worked a full-time job, a part-time job and volunteered at the dance school where the girls took classes.