LETTER TO THE EDITOR
By Andrea Swayne
Former Dana Point resident and ex-Marine, Brian Karl Brimager, 39, pleaded guilty in Federal Court in San Diego on Wednesday to the 2011 second-degree murder of girlfriend and former Dana Point resident, Yvonne Baldelli.
According to prosecutors, Brimager and Baldelli met in Dana Point in 2009. The couple moved from Los Angeles to Panama in September 2011.
Brimager admitted to stabbing Baldelli, dismembered her body with a machete and disposing of it in the jungle near Bocas Del Toro, Panama, where the couple had been living and working as caretakers of a hostel.
Baldelli’s remains were discovered in 2013 and Brimager was arrested later that year.
Shortly after the couple’s arrival in Panama, Brimager began emailing the mother of his daughter and making plans for moving back to California to live with her and help raise their child, prosecutors said.
Brimager was also accused of obstruction of justice, falsification of records and making false statements to FBI agents investigating the case in 2012, claiming Baldelli left him to live in Costa Rica when she went missing.
In an effort to make it appear Baldelli was still alive, Brimager withdrew money from her bank accounts and sent emails to her family and friends from her computer saying she was living in Costa Rica with another man.
Brimager was living with the mother of his child in San Diego in 2013 at the time of his arrest.
Brimager is facing life in prison. His sentencing hearing is set for May 25.