Mother's Boyfriend Charged With Murder Of Little Trinity Jones

LOS ANGELES, CA — The boyfriend of 9-year-old Trinity Love Jones' mother was charged Tuesday with murdering the child, whose body was found last week inside a large duffel bag near an equestrian trail in Hacienda Heights.

Emiel Lamar Hunt , a 38-year-old man, with a previous child abuse conviction, was arrested Saturday when he was found sleeping in his vehicle in a lot near San Diego International Airport.

Hunt appeared briefly in a Pomona courtroom Tuesday, but his arraignment was delayed until April 16. He remains jailed in lieu of $2 million bail. He could face up to 50 years to life in state prison if convicted as charged, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

Trinity's mother has been detained for questioning as well, according to relatives. However, authorities would not say whether she is a "person of interest" in her daughter's death.

Sheriff's officials said earlier that two "persons of interest" had been detained for questioning in the case, but only Hunt was charged Tuesday.

County workers clearing some brush in the area found the girl's body found about 10 a.m. March 5. The girl was partially inside a black roll-away- type duffel bag, with her head and upper body protruding from the partially zipped bag left at the bottom of an embankment close to Colima Road and the 3400 block of Hacienda Boulevard, near the His Lai Buddhist Temple, authorities said.

The coroner's office ruled her death a homicide, but officials have not said how the girl died.

Sheriff's detectives initially asked for the public's help in identifying the girl, releasing a composite sketch of the child and photos of the clothing she was wearing. Family members who created a memorial of candles, flowers, balloons, stuffed animals and photos near where the girl's body was found eventually confirmed her identity.

"Words can't explain what I'm feeling right now," Anthony Jones, Trinity's father, said at the memorial site. "I just want answers. I just want justice. She was just the best -- full of character, full of life, full of joy."

Jones said he learned of his youngest daughter's death through a telephone call.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.