Long Beach man convicted of murder of CSUN student in Craigslist killing

SAN FERNANDO >> It took a dozen jurors in San Feando just 15 minutes Thursday to convict a petty criminal from Long Beach with first-degree murder in the death of a Cal State Northridge student during a Craigslist car sale, then dumping his body along a desert freeway.

Nine women and three men found Agustin Rosendo Feandez, 29, guilty of premeditated murder for killing 23-year-old Abdullah Alkadi, a Saudi national and aspiring electrical engineer.

Jurors also convicted him of special circumstances of murder during a robbery and carjacking with a special allegation of personal use of a deadly weapon, or knife.

Feandez, who faces life in prison without the possibility of parole, is slated to be sentenced Aug. 12 at the San Feando Courthouse.

•RELATED STORY: Brother of dead CSUN student Abdullah Alkadi: ‘He didn’t deserve to die’

The Los Angeles County District Attoey’s Office has a policy of not Idea on cases until after a criminal has been sentenced. The Feandez case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attoey Cynthia Baes of the Major Crimes Division.

It was on Sept. 17, 2014, when Feandez responded to an ad on Craigslist offering to sell Alkadi’s Audi A5 convertible for more than $30,000.

But when they met in Northridge to negotiate the deal, Feandez plunged his knife into the Saudi student over and over again.

•RELATED STORY: Long Beach man charged with Craigslist murder of CSUN student Abdullah Alkadi

The student’s body was found a month later near Palm Desert off a remote stretch of Interstate 10.

The victim’s roadster was later found outside Feandez’s apartment on Long Beach Boulevard.

“I think the message for the public here is that you have to beware of using online inteet sites to sell anything, Craigslist, eBay, said Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck, during a news conference after Feandez’s arrest. “It’s not the victim’s fault -- but with an absolutely tragic, tragic outcome.”

People conducting transactions from such online sites should always take someone with them and meet in a public spot, such as in front of a police station, he said.

Alkadi, one of seven children, was an electrical engineering student who had been in the U.S. since 2010. His brother, who also attended CSUN, said Alkadi’s remains would be laid to rest in Saudi Arabia.

“Regardless of any nationality and religion, he’s a human being and he didn’t deserve to die,” the brother, Ahmed Alkadi, had told the Daily News. “He was a peaceful guy.

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“He had a very promising future. He wanted to have a good education in this country. … He wanted to make his family, his parents and himself proud.”