Hearing delayed for three facing torture, murder charges
A preliminary hearing was postponed Wednesday for a Moreno Valley man and two 16-year-old boys charged with torturing and killing a 16-year-old girl who ran away from a group home last year.
The defense attorney was unavailable for the pretrial hearing of Roman Aldana, 20, of Moreno Valley and Jose Solorza and Anthony Bobadilla, both 16.
The trio were arrested in September 2006 and charged with fatally stabbing and torturing Kayla Wood, 16, before leaving her body in a burning abandoned building off Cactus Avenue in Moreno Valley.
Attorneys will return to court in January to set a new hearing date, when the prosecution will lay out its case against the defendants, to determine if there is enough evidence to proceed with a trial.
Kayla’s body was found after she had run away from a Moreno Valley group home 10 times and been stopped for prostitution in Arizona.
—John Asbury
jasbury@PE.com