When asked about the whereabouts of roommate Margaret Mamer, Lisa Gonzales replied that the woman had left, "but not the way she wanted to,” according to the district attorney
Credit: Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Margaret Mamer was reported missing on June 1, 2018, about two weeks after she had last been seen
- Her roommate, Lisa Gonzales, 55, said she helped Mamer move out on May 15, 2018
- Officers then found Mamer’s rotting, sawed off remains in a storage container in the basement
A San Francisco woman who dismembered her roommate with a hacksaw and hid the remains in a storage container in the basement of their building has been convicted of murder.
On Wednesday, April 1, 2026, a jury found Lisa Gonzales, 55, guilty of second-degree murder with an allegation that she personally used a weapon (a knife) in the commission of the murder found true in connection with the 2018 death of Margaret Mamer, 61, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced in a statement.
"This is one of the most gruesome crimes our city has experienced in recent history," Jenkins said at a press conference after the verdict was handed down, KGO reported.
Mamer was reported missing on June 1, 2018, by friends who said they hadn’t heard from her for more than a week and were worried about escalating tension between her and a roommate, the district attorney said in the statement.
The next day, another "concerned citizen" went to the police to report that a murder may have happened at a residence on the 200 block of 14th Street, per the statement, which noted that "the person reported that Ms. Gonzales had murdered someone, dismembered the body, and attempted to conceal the body in a container in her basement."
When officers arrived at 255 W. 14th St. in the Mission District, they found the room Mamer was renting had been emptied out.
Gonzales told them she lived there with a roommate and no one else, per the district attorney's statement. She said Mamer had once lived there, but told the officers she recently moved to Eureka. She said she helped Mamer move out on May 15, 2018, and hadn’t seen her since.
After speaking to Gonzales, the officers searched the storage area in the building and found a blue container with human remains inside, later identified as Mamer’s.
The remains were badly decomposed and covered with maggots since they had likely been there for weeks, police said at the time, Mission Local reported.
An autopsy revealed that Mamer had suffered multiple sharp force injuries to the face and skull. She had also been stabbed in the chest with a sharp object. After she died, portions of her left and right forearms and legs had been sawed off and she had been cut in half, the autopsy showed, per the outlet.
Details about what led to the murder emerged when a third roommate told officers that in mid-April of 2018, Gonzales gave Mamer a 30-day notice to move out, according to the district attorney.
Gonzales had complained to coworkers about Mamer refusing to move out, police later learned, per the statement. When told of the ways she could legally evict Mamer, Gonzales allegedly said, “No thanks. I’ll do it my way.”
When the third roommate came home from work during her lunch hour, Gonzales told her not to go into the bathroom.
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
Hours later, when that roommate returned home from work, she noticed a metallic smell in the apartment and heard sawing noises coming from the bathroom, which lasted for hours, the district attorney said in the statement.
When the roommate woke up the next morning, Gonzales was still in the bathroom.
Later that evening, she said the apartment smelled of vinegar and bleach and that the bathroom door was now open.
She said she noticed that a blue container that once held her dirty clothes was missing and saw a hacksaw under the sink in the laundry room. When she asked where Mamer was, Gonzales replied that she had left, “but not the way she wanted to,” per the district attorney's statement.
Gonzales faces 16 years to life in prison. Sentencing will be scheduled at a future hearing.
Read the full article here
