{"id":1455,"date":"2026-05-27T00:01:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T07:01:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/27\/man-sentenced-to-216-years-to-life-in-prison-for-east-county-strangling-murder\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T00:01:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T07:01:38","slug":"man-sentenced-to-216-years-to-life-in-prison-for-east-county-strangling-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/27\/man-sentenced-to-216-years-to-life-in-prison-for-east-county-strangling-murder\/","title":{"rendered":"Man sentenced to 216 years to life in prison for East County strangling murder"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A man who shot and strangled a man in East County in 2023 was sentenced Friday to 216 years to life in prison.<\/p>\n

Read more Long before San Diego mosque shooting, teen suspect\u2019s Chula Vista school raised alarms<\/a><\/p>\n

Kenneth McNally, 42, was found guilty of first-degree murder in the slaying of Samuel Holthaus, 59, along with two counts of assault with a semi-automatic firearm, shooting at an inhabited occupied structure\/vehicle and assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury.<\/p>\n

McNally is a third-strike offender with a lengthy and violent criminal history, according to District Attorney Summer Stephan. At the time of the murder, he was on probation for his second-strike offense after being convicted of attacking a dog with an axe. McNally was also on post-release community supervision for two additional criminal cases: one involving assault and the other resisting an officer with force. His first strike conviction stemmed from a 2004 case, in which he was convicted of assault on a peace officer.<\/p>\n

The murder occurred on Sept. 3, 2023, on a 6-acre property in Harbison Canyon, an unincorporated area of El Cajon, where McNally had been staying with acquaintances in a trailer. Earlier that day, the Sheriff\u2019s Office received calls from residents reporting that McNally was aggressively demanding rides off the property while appearing to conceal a weapon beneath a jacket.<\/p>\n

Read more San Diego County health official arrested in deadly hit-and-run<\/a><\/p>\n

According to prosecutors, one witness later told investigators that during a drive near Sloan Canyon Road off Dehesa Road, McNally confessed that he had killed Holthaus and dragged him down a hill with a noose around his neck. A second witness also revealed McNally made a similar confession to her earlier that day. She also reported seeing McNally driving the victim\u2019s truck erratically before parking it near the grave.<\/p>\n

Holthaus\u2019 body was discovered buried in a shallow grave later that day.<\/p>\n

On Sept. 6, 2023, the sheriff\u2019s Fugitive Task Force located McNally at a motel in El Cajon. Investigators seized the van McNally was riding in and discovered a bag containing bloody clothing. Preliminary analysis showed the majority of the blood on the pants tested positive for McNally\u2019s DNA; only a single bloodstain found on one of the pant legs belonged to Holthaus, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

Read more Maine\u2019s transgender sports initiative halted by invalid signatures<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kenneth McNally, 42, was found guilty of first-degree murder in the slaying of 59-year-old Samuel Holthaus<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1454,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-courts"],"yoast_head":"\nMan sentenced to 216 years to life in prison for East County strangling murder - Los Angeles Moving Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/27\/man-sentenced-to-216-years-to-life-in-prison-for-east-county-strangling-murder\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Man sentenced to 216 years to life in prison for East County strangling murder - 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