The young girl who was found dead inside the duffel bag belonging to a man and woman from Whittier who were trying to enter Mexico on foot this week was drowned, prosecutors told KTLA sister station KSWB Friday afternoon.
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During the arraignment hearing, Deputy District Attorney Kurt Mechal revealed that the child’s cause of death was residential drowning and malnutrition.
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Johnny Lewis Hartley and Mercy Mary Becerra were charged Friday with one count of murder each.
A 15-year-old Pennsylvania girl who pleaded guilty to plotting with her soldier boyfriend to kill her mother has taken the stand at his murder trial, saying in his defense she’s “inexorably, ineffably in love”. “When they were stopped by Mexican Custom agents, the female fled”, San Diego police officials said in a written statement.
Officials believe they have identified the girl and located her parents, Mechals said.
He said no missing child report had been filed about the girl.
He declined to comment on why Hartley and Becerra had been taking care of the child and why they were allegedly heading to Mexico with her body. He says the couple knew the child but neither was related to her. Not long after the discovery, authorities took Becerra into custody and turned her over to US authorities.
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Hartley and Becerra were arrested around noon Tuesday after a deceased toddler was found in a bag the man was carrying during an X-ray, the San Diego Police Department said in news release Wednesday. Each was held on $2 million bail, KGTV reported.
