Fresno serial killer who used body for target practice takes triple murder plea deal
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- King pleaded guilty to three counts of first‑degree murder and a gun enhancement.
- Plea deal drops death penalty; prosecutors agreed to lengthy prison terms.
- Defense cites veteran PTSD; King waived appeal rights; sentencing May 8.
A Fresno County man charged with the murders of three men accepted a plea deal Tuesday that will likely put in prison for the rest of his life.
Buford Jonathan King, who was called a serial killer by the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office when he was charged in 2019, sat quietly as Superior Court Judge Alvin Harrell III read the agreement he made with the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office.
The 40-year-old King pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder, plus an enhancement for using a gun. He also waived his right to appeal. In exchange, senior deputy district attorneys David Olmos and Liz Owen agreed to drop the death penalty charge.
“These are very serious charges and very serious implications and I want to make sure, sir, that you’ve had sufficient time to discuss these matters over with your attorneys. Have you had sufficient time to discuss these matters with your attorneys?” the judge asked.
“Yes, sir,” King said.
King is facing 50 years to life followed by life without the possibility of parole for the deaths of Donnie Lee, 62, Aleksey Shelest, 35, and Alberto Contreras, 51.
Harrell scheduled his sentencing hearing for May 8.
One of King’s attorneys, Curtis Sok, said that while he does not condone his client’s actions, he said King has suffered from trauma as a young person. As an adult, King developed post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in the Army and being stationed in the Middle East, Sok said.
“He is not a vicious serial killer. I mean, I guess the people say based on the definition, you know, he’s a serial killer, but he’s really not,” Sok said. “He’s damaged. He gave his mind and his life for this country.”
Sok believes King’s PTSD played a part in the three murders he confessed to on Tuesday.
Attorney Michael McKneely, who is also representing King, said he is preparing a statement about King’s military record to be included at the sentencing hearing.
During King’s preliminary hearing in August 2022, Fresno County Sheriff’s detective Jose Diaz testified that King was driven to kill by a sense of outrage, believing his victims had hurt women or children.
King’s first victim, Contreras, was strangled to death in 2010 after King suspected he had been assaulting a young woman inside an apartment in Visalia. King was visiting his girlfriend, who lived in the same complex, when he heard a commotion coming from another apartment.
King approached the apartment, saw the young woman and asked to be let in. Contreras refused, prompting King to kick in the door. The two men scuffled. Diaz testified that King hit Contreras in the face several times then grabbed him with his right hand and choked him until he was unconscious.
King ran from the apartment but came back a short time later to dispose of the body. He took the body to an orchard where he was going to bury it. But King did something unusual with the body. He propped it up on a tree stump and used it for target practice, shooting his victim in the face and chest.
Detectives found King’s two other victims through a 2016 missing persons case in the Yokuts Valley area of eastern Fresno County. King had moved to the foothills area and was living on five acres.
One of King’s tenants on the property was Lee, who disappeared on Nov. 1, 2016. Shelest was last heard from on May 18, 2016.
Diaz testified that when detectives first questioned King in 2016, he denied knowing anything about the two men.
The investigation turned cold until 2019, when detectives got a break. King’s ex-girlfriend came forward and spoke with them about the killings and King’s involvement. She told detectives King confided in her that Shelest was buried on the property.
Detectives believe King fatally shot Shelest thinking that he had sexually assaulted a woman.
Lee was killed with a shotgun blast to the head and then buried on the property, Diaz said. King never fully explained why Lee was killed, detectives said.
