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A Costa Mesa woman who prosecutors say was killed by her boyfriend last week once was a National Merit Scholar who was fascinated by southeast Asia and loved dogs so much she babysat them for free.
“She was a sweetheart. My firstborn. I was extremely proud of her,” said Anne Booth, the mother of 38-year-old Julie Anne Sanetra.
Born in Orange County and the older sister of two brothers, Sanetra was an active Girl Scouts member and part of the Venturing Crew, in which she remained until she was 21. A National Merit Scholar winner with many educational opportunities, Sanetra pursued a degree in Southeast Asian studies at UC Berkeley. She was interested in learning about Southeast Asia, including India and the Middle East, said Booth, who lives in Laguna Hills.
Sanetra also learned Bangla, a Bengali language spoken in Bangladesh and parts of India.
After living in the Bay area for roughly a decade, Sanetra returned to Southern California and lived in Irvine by herself while working as a pricing analyst for several grocery stores. She was close with her mother and spoke to her daily.
“I would be talking to her on the phone and she would say, ‘Mom, I gotta call you back, I see a dog,’ ” Booth recalled.
Following the death of her 14-year-old dog Chica, Sanetra would often walk other people’s dogs and offered to babysit her neighbors’ dogs for free, the mother said.
“We love her, we’re missing her tremendously and just trying to cope with the fact that I’ll never see her again,” Booth said.
When asked if she knew anything about Sanetra’s boyfriend, 49-year-old Daniel Allen Aldrich, Booth said she had “no idea” who he was.
Aldrich was arrested on Oct. 22 and later charged with murder, after landscapers found Sanetra’s body in a trash can at his Costa Mesa home.
He also faces a felony enhancement for the personal use of a weapon.
Prosecutors said Aldrich killed Sanetra following an argument the pair had after a night of drinking. He strangled her and slit her wrist with a folding knife, then left Sanetra’s body on his couch while he watched television and went to bed, they said.
The next day, prosecutors said, he dragged Sanetra’s body outside his home and stuffed it into a trash can on the side of his house. He then went back inside the home, packed a bag and drove to his mother’s house in Glendale.
“Julie Sanetra did not deserve to be strangled and stuffed into a trash can like a piece of garbage,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a written statement. “The callousness of this crime shocks the conscience, and we will do everything to get justice for Julie and her loved ones.”
Daniel Allen Aldrich. (Photo courtesy of the Orange County District Attorney’s Office)
Daniel Allen Aldrich, 49, was arrested at a relative’s house in Glendale after police found the body of his girlfriend in a trash can at his Costa Mesa home. (Courtesy of Costa Mesa Police Department)
Daniel Allen Aldrich. (Photo courtesy of the Orange County District Attorney’s Office)
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