The true story behind the Jessica Quintanilla case as shown in Snapped season 35 episode 25

Snapped season 35 episode 25 explores the case of Jessica Quintanilla, the ex-girlfriend of an Air Force airman. In 2021, Quintanilla broke into her ex-boyfriend's house in Fairfield, California, and shot and killed 19-year-old college student Leilani Marie Beauchamp while she was asleep after a Halloween party.

What started as a search for a missing person quickly revealed a tragic, treacherous, and jealous story. The episode explores the complex relationships that resulted in the crime, its devastating aftermath, and Leilani's family's quest for justice.

The Snapped episode, titled Jessica Quintanilla, aired on October 19, 2025, on Oxygen. It reconstructs the events through interviews with investigators, relatives, and archived footage.

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Snapped: The volatile relationships leading to tragedy

Snapped season 35 episode 25 (Image via Unsplash/ @Daniel von Appen)

Leilani Marie Beauchamp, 19, was studying for an associate's degree in arts in San Jose. She liked art, music, and design and kept in daily touch with her siblings even after enrolling in school.

On October 30, 2021, she went to a Halloween costume party in Sacramento with friends. Two of whom were active-duty Air Force airmen from Travis Air Force Base: Juan Lorenzo Parra-Peralta and Damien Ponders, as per Oxygen.

Beauchamp and Parra-Peralta, who had been briefly romantically involved, departed the event together and went back to his shared apartment in Fairfield at midnight.

Parra-Peralta, then in his early 20s and in the Air Force, had a volatile on-and-off relationship with Jessica Yesenia Quintanilla, 24, of Pittsburg, California. Quintanilla, a single mother of two small children, had broken up with Parra-Peralta recently. She worked as a dental assistant and caregiver, as per Oxygen.

The breakup, however, did not dissuade her from being obsessed with him. She requested him to stay away from Beauchamp, whom she considered a competitor. The tensions ran hot as Quintanilla found that Beauchamp had spent the night at Parra-Peralta's after the Halloween party.

Her brother, Marco Antonio Quintanilla, 30, a paroled felon from a 2013 attempted murder, was subsequently involved in events, albeit to a minimal capacity post-incident, according to the People.

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The murder and desperate cover-up

Jessica shot Leilani in the head (Image via Unsplash/ @ Maxim Hopman/ Snapped)

On the morning of October 30, 2021, Quintanilla went to Parra-Peralta's Fairfield home to supposedly retrieve items such as clothes and cash worth $5,000 from the breakup, as reported by People. Upon finding Beauchamp sleeping in bed with Parra-Peralta, Quintanilla approached the bedroom with a handgun.

With a single shot to the head, Quintanilla killed Beauchamp instantly, as evidenced by autopsy reports detailing the bullet's exact point of entry. Parra-Peralta, present during the act, was threatened by Quintanilla to remain silent, as per People.

She coerced Parra-Peralta into covering Beauchamp's body with a blanket and driving more than 130 miles south to a secluded hillside just outside Salinas, as per Law & Crime.

There, they discarded the remains into thick foliage down an embankment. Throughout the strained ride, Quintanilla wiped down surfaces to destroy evidence and threatened Parra-Peralta with repercussions if he talked. She later told her brother Marco that day, "We killed someone," something he initially paid little mind to as a bluff, according to Law & Crime.

Marco then confronted Parra-Peralta, coercing him to maintain the cover-up and warning him with repercussions related to his parole status.

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The investigation, trial, and justice served

Jessica was sentenced to 25 years in prison (Image via Unsplash/ @Markus Winkler/ Snapped)

Fairfield police launched a homicide probe led by Detective Dennis Chapman after Beauchamp's body was discovered on November 1, 2021. Parra-Peralta, granted immunity, guided Monterey County Sheriff's deputies to the site and provided a full account, implicating Quintanilla.

Cell records and GPS data confirmed the drive to Salinas, while forensics ruled out the defense's claim of a struggle, as no fingerprints or disarray indicated an accident. Ponders received similar immunity for his testimony. Quintanilla was arrested on November 2, 2021, for the murder; Marco was arrested on accessory charges and parole violations, as per The Reporter.

The five-week-long Solano County Superior Court trial, presided over by Judge William J. Pendergast, commenced in late 2024. Prosecutor Ilana Shapiro contended premeditation on the grounds of Quintanilla's jealousy and armed entry.

Quintanilla claimed the gun was fired accidentally during an argument with Parra-Peralta, but evidence such as the downward trajectory of the bullet refuted this, as per Law & Crime.

Her lawyer, William Alan Welch, requested reduced charges, claiming the crime happened in the "heat of passion," but the jury found her guilty of first-degree murder in November of 2024. Marco had pleaded to lesser charges, admitting limited involvement.

Sentencing on January 17, 2025, elicited emotional statements from Beauchamp's grandmother, Lourdes Giovannini; grandfather, Joseph Giovannini; brother; Anthony; sister, Sierrah Pike; and mother, Violeta, according to The Reporter.

They remembered her kindness and the emptiness that followed her death. Quintanilla got 25 years to life, plus fines and lifetime parole; Marco was given four years with credits. Both remain to be transferred to state prisons, as per the outlet.

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Snapped season 35 episode 25 concludes with investigator Paul Sequeira's observations of the love triangle's cost, utilizing court footage to map out closure.

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