Hemet man, 52, pleads guilty to fatal 2019 stabbing of Winchester man, 63
RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — Accused in the fatal, December 2019 stabbing death of an acquaintance, a Hemet man pleaded guilty following a felony settlement conference at a Riverside County Superior Court on Friday, Nov. 19.
In addition to his murder charge, 52-year-old Hyder Mahdi Jaffer, faced a now-dismissed sentence-enhancing allegation of using a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony following the murder of Inder Jit, 63, of Winchester. The enhancement was dropped as a result of a plea arrangement with the District Attorney’s Office.
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As reported by RCNS at the time, City of Hemet PD officers and detectives began investigating the incident shortly before 6 p.m. after passersby called 911 and reported finding Jit’s body inside a red SUV outside Franklin Liquor on the 1300 block of Oakland Avenue, near San Jacinto Street.
Arriving at the scene just minutes after the dispatched call, officers and other emergency responders found Jit’s bloody and lifeless body seated inside the vehicle, Hemet Police Lt. Jeff Davis reported as the homicide investigation was getting underway.
Although 52-year-old, Hyder Mahdi Jaffer, of Hemet, was immediately identified and interviewed as a person of interest in the stabbing death of acquaintance Inder Jit, 63, of Winchester, he remained free while officials gathered enough evidence to charge him. He pleaded guilty to murder in a Riverside Superior Court on Friday. Alex Cruz photo
Although paramedics immediately pulled Jit from the SUV and began CPR and other life-saving efforts, he was eventually pronounced deceased at the scene. Witnesses later reported that paramedics continued CPR for about twenty minutes before the victim was confirmed deceased.
At the time, Davis reported that officials had identified Jaffer as a person of interest and had interviewed the man; however, he was not immediately arrested and initially remained free, pending further investigation into the circumstances that led to the fatal encounter.
As their investigation continued, officials developed leads and gathered information that ultimately led detectives to submit a request for charges to the District Attorney’s Office. A criminal complaint was subsequently filed on Feb. 18, 2020, and Jaffer was taken into custody the following week.
Jaffer, who has no documented prior felony or misdemeanor convictions in Riverside County, has remained in custody at the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta, where he is still being held without bail pending his sentencing.
Although Davis has since explained that a confrontation between Jaffer and Jit, as the two sat inside Jit’s vehicle, culminated in Jaffer stabbing the victim in the chest, officials have not disclosed any known motive for the stabbing or what exactly led to the fatal encounter.
With the date of his scheduled trial approaching, during a felony settlement conference at the Banning Justice Center on Friday, Jaffer pleaded guilty to the murder charge, at which time the sentence-enhancing allegation dropped.
No information about Jaffer’s sentencing or how much time he is facing could be immediately located or confirmed.
During a trial readiness/felony settlement conference at the Banning Justice Center on Friday, Jaffer pleaded guilty to his murder charge, at which time the sentence-enhancing allegation of using a weapon during the commission of a felony against him was dropped.
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Trevor Montgomery, 50, moved in 2017 to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source (RCNS) and Shasta County News Source (SCNS).
Additionally, he writes or has written for several other news organizations; including Riverside County based newspapers Valley News, Valley Chronicle, Anza Valley Outlook, and Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle; the Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County; and Mountain Echo in Shasta County. He is also a regular contributor to Thin Blue Line TV and Law Enforcement News Network and has had his stories featured on news stations throughout the Southern California and North State regions.
Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg, breaking his back, and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s accident.)
During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations; including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center, and Lake Elsinore Station; along with other locations.
Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.
Trevor has been married for more than 30 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and his “fluid family” includes 13 children and 18 grandchildren.