The 17th of January 2014, the 19500 block of Van Buren Boulevard in Riverside, California, at 11:45 a. m. , saw a call that would unravel a mystery that had confounded San Diego police for weeks.
A witness reported a foul odor emanating from a green 2004 Toyota Camry parked outside a fast food restaurant. The odor was one that no officer forgets, and upon opening the trunk, officers found the decomposing body of a man who would soon be identified as 24-year-old Gianni Badier.
The discovery put an end to the frantic search for the missing fiancé of 22-year-old Alona Flint, a search that had been ignited by a gruesome double murder at the Mission Valley Mall days before. The license plate called back to a missing person’s case and a double murder in the south part of the state. Homicide detectives from the San Diego Police Department were immediately dispatched, diving into a story that was shockingly absent of motive or clear sign.
Alona Flint had been finishing her shift at the Cathy Jean shoe store at the Mission Valley Mall on the night of Christmas Eve in 2013. The mall had extended hours to 2 a. m.
for holiday shoppers, and Alona, who had never liked driving, waited patiently for her fiancé, Gianni Badier, to pick her up as he always did. She clocked out at 12:22 a. m.
, stepping into the parking lot, but Gianni never arrived. All of her calls went straight to voicemail, a silence that prompted her to call his brother, 22-year-old Salvatore.
Salvatore, known as “S,” rushed to the mall, and together with Alona, they sat in his black sedan, calling around to local hospitals and jails in a desperate search for Gianni. At 1:14 a. m.
, a 911 call was placed. The operator could hear Alona utter the chilling words, “I’ve been shot,” before the line went dead. Officers arrived minutes later at the 1600 block of Camino Del Rio North, where they found Alona slumped in the passenger seat of Sal’s car, a gunshot wound to the back of her head.
Sal was severely wounded and was rushed to the hospital.
Salvatore died a few days later from his injuries, leaving two people murdered in a single act of violence that police could find no leads on. The scene showed 22-caliber shell casings but no discernible motive. When police questioned witnesses, they received a description of a man walking from around the vehicle and driving off, but that description did not match Gianni, who remained missing.
Family members begged for his return, claiming that he loved Alona deeply and that he would never harm his brother.
Police would later say that Gianni’s phone went dead at 10:45 that night, and that Alona had messaged him just before the shooting. The investigation would stall, with no sightings of him or activity on his credit cards. The case was already considered highly unusual by Lieutenant Mike Hastings of the SDPD, but a major twist emerged on January 17th, 2014.
A passerby led police to a Toyota Camry in Riverside that had a foul odor emanating, and I have body in the destroyed trunk.
The body found was that of Gianni, riddled with a bullet wound behind his ear. He had been dead for weeks, killed with the same gun used in the double slaying. Equations had turned into a triple homicide.
The mystery deepened as police later found a potential suspect description, a male between 5’9″ and 6′ tall wearing a black hoodie with white silk wrappers. A renewed call for the public’s help in San Diego was issued, but the clues were scant.
The breakthrough came not from a tip, but from an unrelated incident at a Border Patrol checkpoint in San Clemente. A man was stopped while transporting an arsenal of weapons—hundreds of rounds of ammo, a homemade silencer, an AR-15, and a . 22 caliber pistol with a threaded barrel—the latter of which proved to be the murder weapon.
The man identified as Carlo Mercado was released at the time, but later charged with the illegal silencer and weapon possession. But the DNA evidence from the taped-down air fresheners in the Camry, later matched to his profile in the database CODUS.
The SDPD ballistic analyst confirmed the fatal bullet casings in the Camry and the Mission Valley scene linked to the gun seized at the, resulting in a thorough investigation. Detectives also matched his phone records to the scene of the murder. Carlo Mercado, 29, was arrested on June 20th, 2014, and charged with three counts of murder.
After several competency hearings, he was brought to trial, where details of a preposterous motive emerged.
It appeared that on the night of the killings, Mercado had ridden his motorcycle by the mall, and had broken down. He might have been in a confrontation with Gianni. A statement from the District Attorney stated that Mercado had shot Gianni, taken his car, and returned to the scene later.
Having murdered Gianni, he likely encountered his brother and Alona looking for him, and shot them before fleeing again. The attack was purely random.
The evidence against Mercado was overwhelming. His DNA was on the tape, his phone was logged at the same time, and his own cell phone was filled with ominous reminders of “rip.” He even seemed to be emulating a hitman, with a device named “Assassin.”
In a statement, the DDA ruled it a completely random act of violence that could have happened to anyone. The issue was not about a love triangle or any connection; it was a piece of disturbing timing.
The moments of it sent shockwaves through the community. It was revealed that the mall’s surveillance cameras were not working at the time, leading to lawsuits from the families against Westfield alleging lack of security. As of December 2015, he was ruled fit to stand trial, where he originally pleaded not guilty.
In a final turn, Carlo stunned courtrooms on January 12, 2017 by pleading guilty to three counts of murder, avoiding a death penalty.
The prosecution detailed how Carlo stopped at a gas station after shooting Gianni, leaving him bleeding in the passenger seat, then returned to find his girlfriend and brother. Carlo had no reason to be at that mall parking lot. He attacked Gianni, strangled him and pushed him into the car.
Then, he got out and saw the two. They shot them. The court heard that a noose of paranoid behavior had led him to a tantrimental crime.
A judge jailed him for three consecutive life terms.
Carlo Mercado showed no emotion as the sentence was handed down and gave a stance of silence to the family members. The families of the victims left a native. Alona’s mother brought photographs of the three who had been taken to the courtroom, while a letter from Gianni and Sal’s mother detailed their vibrant personalities and how their sons would play music for them, and that laughter had been replaced by silence.
The family, though wrought with grief, felt a sense of closure, as the once impenetrable mystery had at long last been solved.
The most jarring about this case is the horrifying rolling of the dice that lead to the murder of three innocent people. The night of December 24th, 2013 was not predestined, it was just a series of atrocious acts by a man who was quick to violence and concealed within the shadows. The killer’s methodical actions, from using air freshener to mask his act, to his meticulous preparation of the gun, showed a coldness that is rarely seen.
Knowing the reality, the South Bay community will remember the two brothers and their kin, and the holiday season will forever be marred by the bullets that were fired in the cold dark night.
