Hacienda Heights man gets 50 years for killing Huntington Beach woman, dumping body in West Whittier

A Hacienda Heights man was sentenced Wednesday, Aug.1, to 50 years to life in prison for killing a woman three years ago whose body was found in a cooler inside a car abandoned in West Whittier.

Dawn McEveety, 19, of Huntington Beach died from multiple gunshot wounds, according to the coroner’s office.

On July 12, a jury found 40-year-old Anthony Robert Moreno guilty of first-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a felon. Jurors also found true the allegations that the killing was committed for the benefit of a street gang and that Moreno personally and intentionally fired a gun which caused great bodily injury and death.

The prosecution said Moreno shot McEveety in a garage in Artesia on Nov. 24, 2015, and placed her body in a cooler that was taken to West Whittier and left in a stolen Toyota Celica.

Five days later, deputies checking a report of an abandoned car in the 8600 block of Bradwell Avenue noticed the smell coming from the car and discovered the body.

A resident said he noticed the car parked at the corner of Rivera Road and Bradwell Avenue every time he drove onto Rivera Road but he thought it was just another abandoned car.

The investigation led detectives to Moreno.