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Body Of Pregnant Teen Found In Corona Landfill
CBS 2 FONTANA, Calif. (AP) ―
• 8/6/2010
The remains of a pregnant teenager were found in a landfill just days before police planned to end a two-month search through a mountain of trash, authorities said Thursday.
Anyssia Escamilla, 17, disappeared in May.
Shortly afterward, her 18-year-old boyfriend Jesus Avitia Jr. was charged with her death. Police allege he feared her pregnancy would derail his pursuit of a nursing career.
A cadaver-sniffing dog found the body Wednesday, and Escamilla’s identity was confirmed through her dental records.
Escamilla, the mother of a 3-year-old son from another relationship, was reported missing May 11 when she failed to return home from Bloomington High School, about 50 miles east of Los Angeles.
Police later said Avitia told investigators he killed Escamilla and put her in the trash after learning she was pregnant and refused to have an abortion. He wanted to follow in his mother’s footsteps and pursue a nursing career but was afraid a baby would hurt his plans, Fontana police Detective Shawn Hare said.
Attorney Miles Clark III, who represents Avitia, said his client had given police a statement indicating he was responsible for Escamilla’s death but did not intend to kill her.
“What Mr. Avitia would like everyone to know is that he is sorry for what he did,” Clark said. “He is very remorseful. He certainly loved his girlfriend.”
Clark said Avitia had been a promising student with a 3.5 grade point average. No weapon was used, and the death was not premeditated, said the attorney, who did not provide additional details.
An autopsy will be done to determine Escamilla’s cause of death.
Avitia remained jailed on $2 million bail. He has pleaded not guilty to murdering Escamilla and her 3-month-old fetus.
Prosecutors have not decided whether to seek the death penalty.
The 65-day search for the body was narrowed to an area about the size of two football fields at a dump in Corona after the manager told police the general location where trash was dumped in the days after Escamilla’s death.
“It was not pleasant,” Hare said. “When you left there everyday, you never went into the house. You shed off your clothes in the garage and you would spray them down before you went in.”
Police were just days from abandoning their search after covering 85 percent of the area where they thought they might find the body.
Detectives called family members Wednesday to give them a chance to visit the landfill and say farewell before the search ended.
“I was there saying my goodbyes. Where I was standing is more or less where they found here,” said Priscilla Escamilla, the mother of the victim.
About an hour after she left the dump, detectives called to say they had found a body beneath 60 feet of garbage.
“It was a great relief,” the mother said. “It’s what I have been waiting for.”
Priscilla Escamilla said Avitia’s family didn’t approve of him seeing a girl who already had a child from another relationship.
The two had been dating for about a year.
Despite having a child when she was only 14, Anyssia Escamilla was a good mother and a determined student who had made up most of the classes she missed when she had the baby, Priscilla Escamilla said.
She wanted to pursue a medical career and had already obtained some scholarships.
The family did not initially suspect Avitia in the death. They said he was a quiet, well-spoken young man who seemed concerned about Escamilla’s whereabouts and helped hand out fliers as family members searched for her.
“He was in my front yard a week before this saying he loved her and wanted to marry her and have the baby,” Priscilla Escamilla said. “He helped us look for her.”
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