Serra Mesa murder trial to begin closing arguments

SAN DIEGO (CNS) – Closing arguments are scheduled Monday in the trial of a woman accused of killing her 79-year-old mother in their Serra Mesa home then dumping her body on the Barona Indian Reservation.

Ghazal Jessica Mansury, 43, is charged with murder in the September 2013 death of Mehria Mansury.

In his opening statement of trial, Deputy District Attorney Paul Greenwood told jurors the defendant and her mother argued constantly over the younger woman’s “druggie” friends, a dog and the cleanliness of the older woman’s Serra Mesa home.

Mehria Mansury went missing on Sept. 23, 2013, and her body was found nine days later near Lakeside.

When the victim disappeared, the defendant told family members that she didn’t know whether her mother was, suggesting the older woman may have gone for a walk, Greenwood said.

An officer who went to the Amulet Street home on Sept. 24, 2013, was struck by the smell of bleach coming from a bathroom, Greenwood told the jury.

The victim’s cellphone was on a table with the battery disconnected, the prosecutor said.

The defendant told police she went to work on Sept. 25, 2013, but her Viejas Casino club card was used twice at the casino twice after 4 a.m. that morning, Greenwood said. That same day, the defendant used a laptop computer to search “homicide” and “blood spatter,” according to the prosecutor.

Mansury testified that she came home from work and found her mother dead, then got her boyfriend and another friend to help load the victim’s body into the trunk of a car so it could be disposed of.

Because the body was exposed to wild animals and insects, authorities don’t know how the victim died, Greenwood said.

The defendant faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted.