A Tulare County man was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison for the 2016 murder of Cecilia Bravo Cabrera, whose body has never been found, the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.

Francisco Javier Valdivia, 45, received the life term after a jury in July convicted him of first-degree murder and arson of property. Authorities say Valdivia must serve at least 25 years before becoming eligible for parole.

Cecilia Cabrera
Victim

Valdivia and Cabrera married in 2008 in Fresno but did not live together, with those close to them saying the marriage was arranged for immigration purposes, prosecutors said. Valdivia lived in Goshen with another partner, Rosalina Lopez, 46, and their four children, though he financially supported Cabrera in Farmersville.

Over time, investigators said, he also grew possessive and had previously threatened to kill Cabrera if she left him or began a relationship with someone else.

Cabrera vanished after picking up Valdivia on June 8, 2016, to celebrate her upcoming birthday at the Tachi Palace in Lemoore. The pair left the casino shortly after midnight. Around 5 a.m. the next morning, firefighters found Cabrera’s car fully engulfed in flames in Traver. Despite extensive searches, she has never been located.

Detectives later discovered that calls to Cabrera had been deleted from Valdivia’s phone. They also observed scratches on his arm during an initial interview, during which Valdivia falsely claimed he had gone straight home after seeing Cabrera drive away. Cell phone data instead placed him near the burning car between 4 and 5 a.m.

Lopez pleaded no contest in 2020 to being an accessory after the fact and was sentenced to three years in county jail.

Valdivia has remained in custody since his arrest in 2016.

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