3 Men Charged In 2002 Killings Of East Los Angeles Teenager
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Three men were charged Wednesday in the 2002 murder and rape of Brenda Sierra, a teenager kidnapped on the way to her Montebello high school and found dead the next day in the San Bernardino Mountains, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said.
Eddie Chavira, 30, Daniel Cervantes, 35, and George Barraza, 35, were charged Wednesday in the killing, along with co-defendant Rosemary Chavira, 28, who pleaded not guilty to the killing in March. Barraza is a fugitive at large. Eddie Chavira is in prison on an unrelated manslaughter conviction.
Sierra disappeared Oct. 18, 2002, while walking to a friend's home in East Los Angeles to carpool to Schurr High School, where she was a 15-year-old sophomore. Her body was discovered the next day in the San Bernardino mountains. She had been raped and died of blunt-force trauma to the head, according to the District Attorney's Office.
The case went cold until earlier this year, when Rosemary Chavira was arrested in connection with the slaying.
Prosecutors on Wednesday said Sierra was killed in an effort to prevent a relative from testifying in an unrelated shooting case. Prosecutors said Eddie Chavira, who at the time of Sierra's death was in custody in connection with a shooting witnessed by one of Sierra's relatives, told a fellow member of his East Los Angeles gang to have other gang members take care of witnesses. Prosecutors said he called his younger sister, Rosemary, to ask for her help.
Rosemary Chavira, Cervantes and Barraza are charged with one count each of murder, conspiracy to dissuade a witness and forcible rape with the special circumstances of felony murder during commission of a kidnapping and to further a street gang. Eddie Chavira is charged with one count of murder and one count of conspiracy to intimidate a witness.
Rosemary Chavira returns to court Tuesday to set a date for her preliminary hearing. She faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted as charged but is not eligible for the death penalty as she was 15 at the time of the killing. Eddie Chavira faces 25 years to life if convicted as charged. Prosecutors will decide later whether to seek death against Cervantes and Barraza.
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