A Marine assigned to the Corps’ Air Ground Combat Center in California, known as Twentynine Palms, faces a murder charge in the death of his wife, according to local police. (Defense Department )
A Marine assigned to the Corps’ Air Ground Combat Center in California, known as Twentynine Palms, faces a murder charge after arriving at a local hospital last weekend with his injured wife, who died later that night, according to authorities.
Cpl. Carlos Zamudio, 23, was arrested early Sunday at the Hi Desert Medical Center in Joshua Tree, where he had arrived with his “severely” injured wife, Savannah Encke, 21, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. The Marine faces an official charge of murder with an aggravating circumstance of using a deadly weapon.
Hospital officials called county deputies when Zamudio, who they reported as having injuries to his head, brought Encke into the emergency room. Deputies arrived at about 1:35 a.m. When Encke died shortly after, police arrested Zamudio on the murder charge. He was booked into the Morongo jail.
The Sheriff’s Department declined to describe the type of injuries Encke suffered or how Zamudio might have inflicted them on his wife.
Zamudio was arraigned Wednesday at the San Bernardino Superior Court in Joshua Tree and pleaded not guilty to the murder charge. He was being held at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga. Bail was set at $1,050,000. His next scheduled court date is Tuesday.
Zamudio is assigned as a transmission system operator with the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division at Twentynine Palms, according to the Marine Corps. The base is a major desert combat training site about 140 miles east of Los Angeles.
Lt. Colton Martin, a Marine spokesman at Camp Pendleton, Calif., the headquarters of the 1st Marine Division, said military officials are assisting civilian authorities in the investigation.
Zamudio enlisted in the Marine Corps in California and began boot camp at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego in January 2020, Martin said. He graduated from the Marine Corps Communication-Electronics School at Twentynine Palms in September 2020.
Zamudio deployed to Australia with the Marine Rotational Force — Darwin in 2022 and Japan under the Unit Deployment Program in 2024. He was promoted to corporal in April 2022 and received the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal.
