Post by CCADP on Aug 15, 2005 6:09:22 GMT -5
Arroyo murder trial to begin
Nine-year-old girl killed in June 1991
By Ray Huard
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 15, 2005
The case looked hopeless.
For more than 10 years, police chased hundreds of leads and got nowhere in finding who took 9-year-old Laura Arroyo from her Otay Mesa home and brutally killed her.
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The crime gained national attention in 1991 as the "Miracle on Broadway," when passers-by said they saw the dead girl's image in lights and shadows on a blank billboard in Chula Vista.
The billboard image of Laura is long gone, but prosecutors are bringing their evidence of what they think happened to the brown-eyed third-grader to this week's San Diego Superior Court trial of Manuel Bracamontes. Bracamontes, 41, is accused of kidnapping Laura from the doorway of her condominium on June 19, 1991, molesting her, strangling her, striking her with a pick ax and stabbing her. The girl's body was found June 20 on the sidewalk outside a Chula Vista industrial park by two women on their way to work.
An autopsy determined that Laura died from "multiple chop wounds of the head, multiple stab wounds of the chest and abdomen and asphyxiation." She was stabbed with such force that the pebbled surface of the sidewalk beneath her body was chipped.
Bracamontes, a former Chula Vista transit worker, lived for a time in the same condo complex as Laura's family, and neighbors told police he had played with Laura and other girls who lived there.
If convicted, he faces the death penalty or life in prison without possibility of parole.
Judge John Thompson has issued a gag order preventing anyone associated with the case from discussing it. The judge told prospective jurors the trial will last up to eight weeks. Opening statements are expected today.
Prosecutor Garland Peed and defense attorneys Megan Marcotte and Terry Zimmerman have listed about 140 witnesses who may be called to testify, including members of Bracamontes' family, who have insisted he is innocent, and Laura's parents.
The prosecutor asked some prospective jurors last week about the weight they would give scientific evidence that authorities say matches DNA samples taken from Bracamontes in 1991 with DNA material found on Laura's body.
Authorities in 1991 said that microscopic examinations of evidence found at the scene showed no signs that Laura had been molested before she died.
The break in the case came in October 2003 when criminalist Ian Fitch with the San Diego Sheriff's Office crime lab took a fresh look at the evidence using updated technology and found sperm cells on swabs taken from Laura's body.
DNA from the swabs matched samples collected from Bracamontes during the original investigation. Bracamontes was arrested Oct. 25, 2003, following a car chase.
In addition to DNA samples, court documents report that fibers found on Laura's body were consistent with blue fibers found in one of Bracamontes' sweaters and in his car.
The list of likely trial witnesses includes people who told police they saw Bracamontes near Laura's condo the night she was abducted. It also includes Bracamontes' former girlfriend, Maggie Porter, who told police in 1991 that he was nowhere near Laura when she was taken.
Porter, who lived in the same complex as Laura, has said that she called Bracamontes between 10 and 10:15 p.m. at the home on Chula Vista Road that he shared with his parents.
She said she was frightened when she heard of Laura's abduction and asked Bracamontes to come keep her company. Porter had three children, including a son with Bracamontes.
Bracamontes had lived with Porter, but moved out about two months before Laura's abduction, according to police reports. Porter told police that Bracamontes arrived at her place around 10:30 p.m.
In a 1991 interview with police, Bracamontes gave a similar version of events, saying he went to stay with Porter sometime after 10 p.m. and had not been in the complex before then.
Others told police they had seen Bracamontes there earlier that night. Two girls who had been playing with Laura said Bracamontes walked by them several times and spoke to them. Three other people who lived nearby said they saw Bracamontes walking in the complex between 8 and 9 p.m.
When investigators went to arrest Bracamontes Oct. 24, 2003, he drove away in his blue 1998 Ford Explorer. The next day, police tracked him to the driveway of a Nestor business and again chased him as he sped off. Bracamontes was caught on the Main Street exit ramp of Interstate 15 after he ran into a patrol car and his Explorer rolled over, landing upside down.
Bracamontes, in court documents filed by his lawyers, said he fled because police and investigators had guns drawn when they went to arrest him on both occasions and he was afraid they would shoot him.
Bracamontes is being held in jail without bail.
Ray Huard: (619) 542-4597; ray.huard@uniontrib.com
Nine-year-old girl killed in June 1991
By Ray Huard
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 15, 2005
The case looked hopeless.
For more than 10 years, police chased hundreds of leads and got nowhere in finding who took 9-year-old Laura Arroyo from her Otay Mesa home and brutally killed her.
Advertisement
The crime gained national attention in 1991 as the "Miracle on Broadway," when passers-by said they saw the dead girl's image in lights and shadows on a blank billboard in Chula Vista.
The billboard image of Laura is long gone, but prosecutors are bringing their evidence of what they think happened to the brown-eyed third-grader to this week's San Diego Superior Court trial of Manuel Bracamontes. Bracamontes, 41, is accused of kidnapping Laura from the doorway of her condominium on June 19, 1991, molesting her, strangling her, striking her with a pick ax and stabbing her. The girl's body was found June 20 on the sidewalk outside a Chula Vista industrial park by two women on their way to work.
An autopsy determined that Laura died from "multiple chop wounds of the head, multiple stab wounds of the chest and abdomen and asphyxiation." She was stabbed with such force that the pebbled surface of the sidewalk beneath her body was chipped.
Bracamontes, a former Chula Vista transit worker, lived for a time in the same condo complex as Laura's family, and neighbors told police he had played with Laura and other girls who lived there.
If convicted, he faces the death penalty or life in prison without possibility of parole.
Judge John Thompson has issued a gag order preventing anyone associated with the case from discussing it. The judge told prospective jurors the trial will last up to eight weeks. Opening statements are expected today.
Prosecutor Garland Peed and defense attorneys Megan Marcotte and Terry Zimmerman have listed about 140 witnesses who may be called to testify, including members of Bracamontes' family, who have insisted he is innocent, and Laura's parents.
The prosecutor asked some prospective jurors last week about the weight they would give scientific evidence that authorities say matches DNA samples taken from Bracamontes in 1991 with DNA material found on Laura's body.
Authorities in 1991 said that microscopic examinations of evidence found at the scene showed no signs that Laura had been molested before she died.
The break in the case came in October 2003 when criminalist Ian Fitch with the San Diego Sheriff's Office crime lab took a fresh look at the evidence using updated technology and found sperm cells on swabs taken from Laura's body.
DNA from the swabs matched samples collected from Bracamontes during the original investigation. Bracamontes was arrested Oct. 25, 2003, following a car chase.
In addition to DNA samples, court documents report that fibers found on Laura's body were consistent with blue fibers found in one of Bracamontes' sweaters and in his car.
The list of likely trial witnesses includes people who told police they saw Bracamontes near Laura's condo the night she was abducted. It also includes Bracamontes' former girlfriend, Maggie Porter, who told police in 1991 that he was nowhere near Laura when she was taken.
Porter, who lived in the same complex as Laura, has said that she called Bracamontes between 10 and 10:15 p.m. at the home on Chula Vista Road that he shared with his parents.
She said she was frightened when she heard of Laura's abduction and asked Bracamontes to come keep her company. Porter had three children, including a son with Bracamontes.
Bracamontes had lived with Porter, but moved out about two months before Laura's abduction, according to police reports. Porter told police that Bracamontes arrived at her place around 10:30 p.m.
In a 1991 interview with police, Bracamontes gave a similar version of events, saying he went to stay with Porter sometime after 10 p.m. and had not been in the complex before then.
Others told police they had seen Bracamontes there earlier that night. Two girls who had been playing with Laura said Bracamontes walked by them several times and spoke to them. Three other people who lived nearby said they saw Bracamontes walking in the complex between 8 and 9 p.m.
When investigators went to arrest Bracamontes Oct. 24, 2003, he drove away in his blue 1998 Ford Explorer. The next day, police tracked him to the driveway of a Nestor business and again chased him as he sped off. Bracamontes was caught on the Main Street exit ramp of Interstate 15 after he ran into a patrol car and his Explorer rolled over, landing upside down.
Bracamontes, in court documents filed by his lawyers, said he fled because police and investigators had guns drawn when they went to arrest him on both occasions and he was afraid they would shoot him.
Bracamontes is being held in jail without bail.
Ray Huard: (619) 542-4597; ray.huard@uniontrib.com