LOS ANGELES, CA — A 63-year-old Los Angeles man was ordered Tuesday to stand trial on a murder charge stemming from the death of a woman whose nude body was found in an Azusa drainage ditch just over three decades ago.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Shelly Torrealba denied a defense motion to dismiss the case against Brian Walton, who is charged in the February 1996 killing of Claudia Guevara.
The murder charge includes the special circumstance allegations of murder during the commission of a rape or attempted rape and murder during the commission of a sodomy or attempted sodomy, along with an allegation that a knife was used in the crime.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office is expected to decide later whether to seek the death penalty against Walton.
He was arrested Feb. 5 by homicide detectives with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and has remained behind bars since then.
Authorities said the 23-year-old Temple City woman's body was found in a drainage ditch next to Encanto Parkway a day after she went missing after being dropped off at the bus stop by two co-workers on Feb. 20, 1996.
DNA evidence allegedly linked Walton to the victim, whom authorities said had been sexually assaulted and whose neck had been slashed.
"The victim's family has waited for an agonizing 30 years to get that call to let them know their loved one's killer had been found and charged," District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement in February shortly after the case was filed against Walton. "While this was classified as a cold case, investigators and prosecutors never stopped in their relentless pursuit of justice, reaffirming our commitment to holding people accountable for the crimes they are accused of committing."
Walton is due back at the downtown Los Angeles courthouse for arraignment Nov. 3.
City News Service
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