Clever Found Guilty of Cleaving his Girlfriends Heart and Lungs

Alexander Anthony Clever, 28, today pleaded no contest to murdering his then-35-year-old girlfriend in a motel in Pomona. Clever not only plead to first degree murder, but admitted the special circumstance of committing torture during the course of the murder.

On November 29, 2014, Clever, his girlfriend, Yvette Silva, and two others were in a motel on South Garey Avenue, near the junction of the 60 and 71 freeways. The couple's companions could hear Clever and Silva arguing in the bathroom. When they heard muffled screaming, they attempted to break up the fight. They found Clever holding the unconscious Silva in a chokehold. Unable to free the woman, the two went to get help.

Upon their arrival, police found Ms. Silva in the shower with her heart and her right lung removed. Later testing showed she had been alive when her lung was cut from her body.

Two days later, Clever was arrested outside of his Pomona home while carrying the murder weapon, a knife, which proved to harbor the DNA of his victim.

Clever is expected to be sentenced on September 19 to life in prison without possibility of parole.