Dateline: Secrets Uncovered - Where is Sam Lopez today?

In 2015, a 43-year-old Placentia man and ex-boyfriend of 1994 murder victim Cathy Torrez, Sam Lopez, was convicted of her stabbing death, which took place more than two decades ago. Torrez, a 20-year-old California State Fullerton University student, was found brutally stabbed to death inside the trunk of her car.

Lopez stood trial 15 years later and was found guilty of one felony count of murder and a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a deadly weapon. He was sentenced to 26 years to life in prison and according to reports, is currently serving time at the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad, Monterey County, California.

Sam Lopez in court during his May 2015 sentencing (Image via MediaNews Group/Getty Images)

Sam's cousin Xavier Lopez, who helped Sam dispose of Cathy’s body, also pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and received a four-year, eight-month prison sentence after his DNA was found on the victim's clothes.

Oxygen's Dateline: Secrets Uncovered will further delve into the murder case and the conviction of Sam Lopez, which came decades later. The episode, titled The Promise, airs this Tuesday, January 3, 2023, at 7.00 pm ET.

---

Cathy was scheduled to meet Sam Lopez on the night she disappeared

Sam Lopez was sentenced to 26 years in jail for the murder of Cathy Torrez in 1994. Prior to receiving his penalty in May 2015, he confessed to killing her and apologized to the members of the Torrez family, who were in the courtroom. He mentioned that "everything they said about Cathy was the truth — she was a wonderful person."

Lopez further added:

"She (Cathy) had a beautiful, promising future, full of life, and I took everything away from her."

Lopez, 43, was previously found guilty in March of one felony count of murder with the use of a deadly weapon as a sentencing enhancement. Prosecutors alleged that Sam proposed to 20-year-old Cathy, then a CSUF student, in 1994, but she rejected him a week before the murder.

On February 12, 1994, Cathy was scheduled to meet him after her shift at the local drug store called Sav-On, but she failed to return home, after which her family eventually reported her missing.

CSFU student Cathy Torrez was stabbed to death in February 1994 (Image via NBC Dateline)

According to reports, Cathy left work after informing her co-workers that she planned to meet her on-and-off boyfriend Sam Lopez that night. She allegedly met Lopez and his cousin Xavier Lopez in a Baskin Robbins parking lot before driving to another location.

Prosecutors claimed that the couple eventually got into a fight which turned violent and Sam attacked Cathy with a knife, stabbing her repeatedly in the face, head, and torso. He then put her in the trunk of her car with the help of his cousin Xavier, who witnessed the incident, and slashed her throat and wrists before locking her in the trunk. The car was discovered a week later by a patrol officer.

For more than a decade, the crime remained unsolved until in 2007, DNA evidence led to the Lopez's arrests. Sam's older brother, Armando Lopez, who was married to the victim's sister Tina Mora at the time, was also charged with being an accessory after the fact.

---

Sam Lopez is serving time at the Monterey County Correctional Training Facility

Sam Lopez's confession came more than two decades after Cathy Torrez's murder and validated her family's long-held suspicions about his involvement in the crime. He remains imprisoned at the Monterey County Correctional Training Facility in Soledad, California, and will be eligible for parole in March 2023.

Xavier Lopez, on the other hand, was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison after he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter. Armando Lopez also confessed to assisting his brother and cousin in the crime. He pleaded guilty to dissuading a witness from reporting a crime and was given a year of probation.

---

Watch Dateline: Secrets Uncovered's upcoming episode this Tuesday, January 3, at 7 pm ET.