On the afternoon of September 21, 2010, police in Vallejo, California, were directed to the quiet parking lot of Glen Cove Park. There, they discovered a scene of shocking brutality: a car spattered inside and out with blood. On the passenger-side floorboard lay the crumpled body of a young woman. She was identified as 33-year-old Richie Lusong, a hardworking Filipina immigrant.

The investigation would quickly lead to a suspect whose identity would stun her friends and family: her coworker and lover, William Ubando. The case would unravel a dark tale of a forbidden workplace affair that ended in a calculated, cold-blooded murder.

Richie Lusong was the embodiment of the immigrant dream. Having arrived in the United States from Pampanga, Philippines, she settled in Vallejo and immediately began building a future. She was a dedicated mother of three who had made the difficult decision to come to America ahead of her husband and two of her children, bringing one child with her.

Her goal was singular and noble: to work tirelessly at her job at the Pine Ridge Care Home and study at nursing school to save enough money to reunite her entire family on American soil. To those who knew her, she was kind, reliable, and laser-focused on her family.

At her job, surrounded by fellow Filipinos, she met William Ubando. He, too, was a married family man, with a wife of 13 years and two children living in California. A friendship between them soon blossomed into a secret, passionate affair in early 2010.

While Richie saw it as a temporary divergence, William became completely consumed. By the summer of that year, he made a life-altering decision: he told his wife their marriage was over and filed for divorce, sacrificing his family with the full expectation that Richie would do the same for him.

But Richie’s heart remained with her family in the Philippines. The affair’s turning point came in August 2010, when her husband and their two other children flew to California for a two-week visit. During those precious days together, the weight of her choices settled in.

Reconnecting with the husband she had vowed to love and the children she was working so hard for, Richie remembered her true purpose. The family reunion rekindled her love and commitment. She made a promise to her husband before he flew home: she would do everything right to bring them to California permanently. That meant ending her affair with William.

On the night of September 20, she made the fateful call. She explained to William that it was over, that she loved her husband and was choosing to save her family. She hoped for a peaceful separation; William, however, felt betrayed and enraged. He had given up everything for her, and he would not be discarded so easily.

What followed was not a crime of passion, but a series of cold, calculated steps toward murder. In the early hours of September 21, stewing in his rejection, William drove to a store and purchased a new, plastic-wrapped baseball bat. He then drove to Richie’s nursing school and waited. For hours, he sat in his car, watching the entrance. When Richie finally emerged from an exam and got into her car, he called her. She answered, her voice firm, threatening him with a restraining order if he didn’t stop his obsessive behavior.

As she drove away, he followed, relentlessly calling her and pleading with her to pull over. He threatened to create a scene at her parents’ house, a scandal she desperately wanted to avoid. Reluctantly, she agreed to talk and pulled into a nearby parking lot. For nearly 20 minutes, they argued. William begged, cried, and even knelt on the pavement, pleading for a second chance. But Richie was resolute. Her life was with her husband and children.

When he finally realized she would not be swayed, William’s obsessive love curdled into pure hatred. As Richie walked back to her car, he went to the trunk of his own, tore the plastic wrapping off the new baseball bat, and ran at her. Before she could react, he began his savage assault, bludgeoning her again and again. He struck her 28 times, mostly to the head and neck, with such force that the medical examiner later testified her skull was visible.

The horror did not end there. Richie was still clinging to life. William lifted her broken, dying body into the passenger seat of his car and drove away, leaving her locked car behind. For over two hours, he drove aimlessly. In an act of unimaginable cruelty, he called friends, one of whom would later testify they could hear Richie’s agonized, gasping breaths in the background.

He then took a photo of her shattered face and sent it as a text message to others. Eventually, he arrived at a friend’s house, who was so horrified by the scene that they immediately called the police. William was arrested on the spot, showing no remorse, Richie’s blood still staining his hands and pants.

At his trial, his defense argued it was a crime of passion. But the prosecution presented the undeniable evidence of premeditation: the purchase of the baseball bat hours before the confrontation. After a three-week trial, the jury found him guilty of first-degree murder. In a dramatic courtroom outburst after the verdict, William screamed, “I deserve to die!” a confession that prompted Richie’s devastated father to lunge at him before being restrained. The jury believed William was a dangerous, obsessive man who would kill again if given the chance. He is now serving his sentence, a final, tragic end to a story of a woman who died for trying to go home.