Banning Man Charged With Murder In Young Woman's Death

RIVERSIDE, CA — A 19-year-old Banning man has been charged with murder in the death of a young Riverside woman, authorities announced Tuesday.

Dezman Markell Hunter is scheduled to be arraigned May 24 on a murder charge as well as enhancement charges of lying in wait, murder while attempting to rape, and sex with a corpse.

The charges follow the grim March 16 discovery of 18-year-old Mandeep Kaur's body in a Riverside apartment in the 1000 block of Spruce Street. Paramedics pronounced the Riverside woman dead at the scene from unknown causes, according to the Riverside Police Department.

A subsequent investigation ruled the death a homicide. Riverside Police Department investigators worked with U.S. Marshalls and the Orange County Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory FBI task force to identify Hunter as the killer, according to Riverside police.

Police did not disclose how Kaur was killed or whether Hunter knew her prior to her death.

Hunter was arrested around 5 p.m. May 5 at his home on E. Nicolet Street in Banning, jail records show. He is being held at Riverside's Robert Presley Detention Center; no bail has been set for him.

Hunter has no criminal history in Riverside County, according to court records.