Speakers announced for the OCDA’s 7th Annual Victims’ Rights March and Rally

ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY PRESS RELEASE

Date: April 20, 2015

MEDIA ADVISORY: The OCDA announces the speakers for the 7th Annual Victims’ Rights March and Rally

WHEN: Friday, April 24, 2015, at 9:30 a.m. (Reception) and 11:00 a.m. (Rally)

WHERE: Orange County District Attorney’s Office, 401 Civic Center Drive W., Santa Ana, and the Old Orange County Courthouse, 211 W. Santa Ana Blvd., Santa Ana

SPEAKERS: Ryan and Richard Girgis’ mother was murdered in 2004. Magdi Girgis, their father, was found guilty by a jury and sentenced to life in state prison without the possibility of parole for the 2004 solicitation-murder of his wife.

Prior to the murder, Magdi Girgis had a pending domestic violence case against him related to assaulting his wife, 55-year-old Ariet Girgis. A restraining order was issued, Ariet Girgis intended to divorce the defendant, and Magdi Girgis moved out of the couple’s Westminster home.

Magdi Girgis, was a respiratory therapist and planned to murder the victim to avoid the cost of a divorce and loss of his medical license by receiving a felony conviction. As a result, Magdi Girgis solicited at least one person, Anthony Edward Bridget, to murder his wife.

A few days prior to Sept. 29, 2004, Ariet Girgis testified in a preliminary hearing in the domestic violence case.

In the early morning hours of Sept. 29, 2004, Bridget and the other suspects are accused of entering Ariet Girgis’ home on Plum Street. Ariet Girgis and her 17-year-old son Ryan were the only family members in the home. Bridget is accused of binding and gagging Ryan and forcing him into a closet. At least one suspect is accused of murdering Ariet Girgis in her bedroom using a sharp object. Bridget and the suspects then fled the scene. After several minutes, Ryan heard a car drive away from the house, broke free of his ties, and immediately reported the crime to Westminster Police Department. Officers responded to the 911 call and discovered Ariet Girgis had been murdered.

Jane Doe is a 16-year-old survivor of sexual assault. Jane Doe, was one of four victims of 31-year-old Rene Centeno, who was found guilty by a jury of sexually assaulting the minors, three under the age of 10, and sentenced to 155 years to life in state prison.

Between July and November 2010, Jane Doe, then-11, lived with her mother, her three younger sisters, ages 4, 6, and 8, and a family friend, Centeno. Her mother would leave at 5:30 a.m. every weekday to go to work. Centeno would then sexually assualt all four of the victims, moving from one to the next. After being sexually assaulted by the defendant, Jane Doe had to watch him do the same to her sisters and console them when they complained of pain. The victims would then walk to school. Jane Doe told her mother, who then contacted the Buena Park Police Department to report the crime.

###

TONY RACKAUCKAS, District Attorney

Susan Kang Schroeder, Chief of Staff
Office: 714-347-8408
Cell: 714-292-2718