The emergency recording captured Brittany Ligdis seeking help before Jeffery Kendall entered the room and killed her, prosecutors said.
MARTINEZ, Calif. — A 911 call that began as Brittany Elizabeth Ligdis reported a break-in became one of the defining pieces of evidence in the murder case against Jeffery Kendall, who was sentenced July 31, 2026, to 50 years to life in prison for killing her in front of their young son.
The recording gave prosecutors a minute-by-minute account of the final confrontation inside Ligdis’ Pinole home. It also tied together several issues the court later had to address: Kendall’s entry into the residence, the presence of the couple’s 4-year-old child, Ligdis’ attempts to get help and the violence that followed. More than two years later, those facts stood behind convictions for first-degree murder and child endangerment and a separate assault-weapon finding by the judge.
Ligdis called emergency dispatchers on Feb. 16, 2024, after Kendall broke into her home, according to the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office. She told the dispatcher she was hiding in a laundry room with the couple’s son. About 90 seconds into the call, prosecutors said, Kendall entered. Ligdis could be heard telling him to let go of her and saying he was scaring the child. She then screamed for him to stop. Prosecutors said Kendall shot her in the head.
The recording did not end with Ligdis’ words. The couple’s son cried out for his mother and ran from the room, prosecutors said. That detail later mattered independently of the murder charge because jurors were asked to decide whether Kendall had endangered the child. They concluded that he had. The boy was not reported physically injured, but his presence transformed the event from a homicide witnessed by a minor into a case that carried a separate child-endangerment conviction.
When Pinole police arrived, they found Ligdis, 30, dead from the gunshot wound. Investigators then turned to evidence outside the home. Earlier police reporting said surveillance cameras captured Kendall leaving the area, and authorities issued an alert for his Hyundai Elantra. California Highway Patrol officers later located the car and arrested Kendall after a traffic stop. That arrest ended the immediate search but began a court process that lasted until the 2026 verdict and sentence.
The 911 recording was powerful because it documented events as they happened rather than reconstructing them only through later memories. Prosecutors could point to Ligdis’ own report that Kendall had broken in, her statement that she and the child were hiding and the audible confrontation that followed. It also supplied a contemporaneous sequence that could be compared with the physical scene, the surveillance evidence and Kendall’s departure. The public accounts reviewed for this report do not include a complete transcript of the call, so only the portions released or quoted by authorities and established news organizations can be reliably described. That limitation matters because the recording should not be embellished with words, noises or timing details that officials have not made public.
Prosecutors said the killing occurred 10 days after Ligdis ended her relationship with Kendall. That timing became important at sentencing. Deputy District Attorney Tylyn Wells argued that the homicide was not simply the result of a sudden mental break but fit a pattern of danger escalating after a partner leaves. Wells called it an “execution in front of a 4-year-old child” as she sought the enhanced punishment that ultimately produced the 50-years-to-life term.
The jury returned its verdict on May 7, 2026, finding Kendall, now 39, guilty of first-degree murder and child endangerment. The weapons allegation followed a separate path. Before trial, the defense successfully petitioned for the assault-weapon count to be decided by the judge. Judge Glenn Kim found Kendall guilty of possessing the weapon, which prosecutors described as a 3D-printed pistol capable of semiautomatic fire, and found six aggravating factors associated with that count to be true.
At sentencing, Kim imposed two consecutive terms of 25 years to life. Prosecutors said the judge described the matter as one of the most difficult cases he had experienced. Kim also restricted Kendall’s ability to contact his son, barring contact until November 2035, when the boy turns 16, unless a court approves a limited exception. That order connected the final sentence back to the same child whose voice prosecutors said could be heard on the emergency call.
Family accounts published shortly after the killing showed the call’s consequences extending far beyond the evidence room. Ligdis’ aunt Nancy O’Neil told KTVU that the boy repeatedly said his mother was dead. Family members said he was staying with relatives. Those reports were made in 2024, close to the homicide, and later public coverage has not disclosed detailed information about his recovery. The absence of those details is significant because the child remains a minor and was not a defendant or public official.
The case also accumulated evidence that was not part of the 911 audio. Surveillance video helped police identify Kendall, according to earlier reports. The firearm became the subject of a separate bench trial. Friends provided background about the days before Ligdis’ death, including her concern that Kendall had become unpredictable after the breakup. Each source served a different function, but the emergency recording remained unique because it captured the immediate crisis without depending on a later retelling.
Ligdis was building a life that had little to do with the criminal justice system before her death. She was studying at Diablo Valley College and pursuing nursing, friends said. Kassandra Santiago, a fellow student and friend, described her as committed to the field and generous with classmates. After Ligdis died, the school awarded her degrees posthumously at its May 2024 graduation ceremony in Pleasant Hill. Her family attended and accepted the recognition on her behalf.
That ceremony took place while the criminal case was still pending and helped separate Ligdis’ identity from the audio that documented her last moments. Public attention naturally focused on the 911 call because of its evidentiary force, but family and friends emphasized her work as a mother and student. The later conviction established Kendall’s guilt in court; it did not make the recording the sum of Ligdis’ life. Her academic achievement remained a separate part of the public record.
By the time Kendall was sentenced, the emergency call had passed through several roles. It had begun as a request for police assistance, then became evidence in a homicide investigation, then formed part of the prosecution’s case at trial and sentencing. Its contents also helped explain the child-endangerment charge and the prosecution’s argument for consecutive life terms. Few pieces of evidence in the publicly described case connected so many stages of the proceeding, from the first police response through the final sentencing argument.
What began as Ligdis’ call for emergency help ultimately became part of the record used to establish what happened inside the Pinole home. The recording documented her effort to shelter with her son, the confrontation that followed and the child’s presence during the killing, while surveillance footage and later police work helped investigators identify and arrest Kendall. More than two years later, that chain of evidence ended in first-degree murder and child-endangerment convictions, a separate weapons finding and a sentence of 50 years to life.
Author note: Last updated September 9, 2026.