Man charged with rapes and murder at the Venice Canals gets life without parole

The man charged with raping two women and murdering one of them in brutal attacks along the Venice Canals on the same day in April pleaded no contest to the charges Friday and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Anthony Francisco Jones pleaded no contest to murder with special circumstances, two counts of rape, one count of sexual penetration by use of force, one count of mayhem, one count of torture and one count of sodomy by use of force in connection with the April 6 attacks.

After Jones pleaded no contest to those charges, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Cathryn F. Brougham sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus 107 years to life, plus eight years for the mayhem offense.

Jones, during a court appearance, also admitted that he kidnapped the victims, committed offenses against more than one of them and inflicted great bodily injury on them. He also admitted that the murder occurred while he was engaged in the commission of rape and sodomy.

Sarah Alden, a 53-year-old mother of two, was left in a coma from her attack and eventually succumbed to her injuries. She was declared brain-dead on May 20 and removed from life support four days later; her organs were donated after she died.

The second woman, Mary Klein, was hospitalized with significant injuries, including multiple fractures to her jaw, but survived.

Klein described her ordeal to The Times from her hospital bed in the immediate aftermath of the attack. She had gone for a walk after work when she was struck to the ground and brutally beaten, leaving her with at least eight fractures to her jaw, several teeth knocked loose, a large cut to the back of her head and severe bruises covering her face and neck.

“Could this have been prevented?” Klein wondered in a statement that she read at the sentencing. “This guy was basically parading up and down Washington Boulevard at Venice Beach, L.A.’s popular tourist destination, with a half-empty bottle of liquor, intimidating women on the street. If he had been stopped before the attack, imagine how different life would be today for me, for Sarah, for Sarah’s sons and for all the people terrorized by this attack.”

Surveillance video from a nearby home in the 2700 block of Strongs Drive that captured the assault — which prosecutors described in a document requesting that Jones be held without bail — shows a man dragging Klein’s body to the gate of a house.

The man is then seen in the video sexually assaulting Klein, who was unconscious, for about seven minutes. After the assault, he stands, pulls his pants up, kicks Klein and walks away. He then returns to Klein’s side and kicks her in the head “with full force” as she was sitting up. As she lay on the ground, he stood with both feet on top of her head before finally leaving the scene.

It is The Times’ policy not to identify victims of sexual assault unless they come forward publicly, but Klein, 55, agreed to share her story. Klein still needs tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of orthodontic surgery and friends have established an online fundraising account.

That night of violence — with its brutality and seeming lack of a motive — has shaken the community. Many locals had always felt the tourist destination with multimillion-dollar homes perched along the waterways was safe, even when walking alone at night.

Following the sentencing, L.A. County Dist. Atty George Gascón praised the investigative work by the LAPD sex crimes detectives. “Their tireless efforts and commitment to justice have been instrumental in holding the offender accountable and providing a measure of justice for the victims,” he said.

“Our prosecutors fought hard to serve justice today in response to Mr. Anthony Jones’ vile actions, including a brutal murder. Our hearts go out to the victim, the survivor, their families, and the Venice community,” the prosecutor added.