FREMONT -- New details in the case of murdered transgender teen Eddie "Gwen" Araujo emerged Wednesday when a witness testified she got a phone call from one of the defendants the night of Araujo's death and heard screaming and shouts of "Just tell me!" in the background.
Prosecutors say the 17-year-old Araujo, who was born male but believed her true gender was female, was beaten and strangled at a party in October by killers enraged that the beautiful girl they knew as "Lida" was biologically male.
"These defendants, acting in concert, committed a brutal and cold-blooded murder," Assistant District Attorney Connie Campbell said as a preliminary hearing on whether the four men charged in the killing should stand trial began Wednesday.
The defendants, 23-year-olds Jose Antonio Merel and Jason Michael Cazares, 22-year-old Michael William Magidson and 19-year-old Jaron Chase Nabors have all pleaded innocent to the killing, which was charged as a hate crime. Friends and relatives of the defendants describe them as hardworking young men who didn't harbor homophobic feelings.
Witness Deanna Mendez, who said she had an intimate relationship with Cazares in recent months and knew all four defendants, testified she got a call from Cazares at about 3 a.m. on Oct. 4.
She could here a noise in the background, "basically yelling at someone to tell him the truth about something."<
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.