Handyman Pleads Guilty in Slaying of SDSU Official from Santee

A handyman who bludgeoned a San Diego State University administrator from Santee when she tried to break off a romantic relationship has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

Paul Carl Tomasini, 65, will be sentenced to 16 years to life in prison at a hearing Aug. 26 at the El Cajon courthouse.

Tomasini admitted using a deadly weapon in the killing last Sept. 30 of Mary Shojai, 62, who was the director of student disability services at SDSU.

Initially, in October, he had entered a not guilty plea in Shojai's killing.

At Tomasini's arraignment last year, prosecutor Amy Colby told a judge that Shojai had been scheduled to pick up a friend at the airport, but failed to show. 

When the traveler went to the woman's home in the 10500 block of Strathmore Drive, she saw the defendant pacing inside, Colby said.

According to the prosecutor, both the friend and the defendant called law enforcement, and deputies who responded around 10 p.m. found the mother of two adult children on the floor in a pool of blood.

Investigators found two large candlesticks and a wooden mallet nearby, she said, adding that blood and hair were found on the base of the mallet and the candlesticks.

An autopsy determined that the victim had been struck 17 times, according to Colby.

According to San Diego State's website, Shojai worked for 37 years at SDSU, where a colleague called her “a transformational leader” who got things done.

– City News Service