Former star of adult films Mario Romo
has been sentenced to life in prison.
According to The
San Diego Union-Tribune, David Enrique Meza, who used the
name Mario Romo in his work as an adult film actor and escort,
stabbed his millionaire boyfriend, 51-year-old Jake Clyde Merendino,
to death in May, 2015.
Merendino was stabbed to death – 24
wounds were found on his body, including two on his neck – and his
body thrown over a cliff in Rosarito, Mexico, where he had just
purchased a condo. The couple was staying at a nearby resort as he
closed on the property.
Meza reportedly led a double life,
making plans with Merendino while in a relationship with his fiancee,
Taylor Langston, who was pregnant at the time. Meza and Langston
later married.
In the early morning of May 2, Meza,
26, called Merendino asking for help with the motorcycle that
Merendino had given him. He told Merendino that the motorcycle had
broken down by the side of the road. After disposing of the body,
Meza reportedly fled the scene on the motorcycle and returned to the
U.S. with Langston, who is facing two years in a federal prison for
her role in covering up the murder.
“One can't even imagine the torture
and torment Mr. Merendino experienced,” U.S. District Judge Jeffrey
Miller said in sentencing Meza after a jury in San Diego found Meza
guilty of foreign domestic violence resulting in murder and
conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Meza attempted to inherit Merendino's
fortune, estimated at $3 million. He submitted to a Texas court a
hand-written will scrawled on a hotel notepad leaving “everything”
to him. Authorities have questioned the document's authenticity.
Maza, who worked for the gay porn site
Sean Cody, met Merendino in 2013 through a gay escort website.