Jury seated for trial of Coachella Valley man accused of killing girlfriend
A jury was seated today and testimony got underway in the trial of a 28-year-old Coachella Valley man accused of fatally stabbing his girlfriend during a frenzied attack possibly stemming from drug use.
Christian Alejandro Pacheco is charged with murder, arson, assault with a deadly weapon, animal cruelty and a sentence-enhancing allegation of using a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony.
Pacheco is accused of killing 30-year-old Elilia Valdez Garcia in March 2017.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Walter Kubelun swore in a jury Tuesday morning at the Riverside Hall of Justice, after which the prosecution and defense delivered opening statements, and prosecutors summoned their first witness.
Testimony is slated to resume Wednesday morning.
Pacheco is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta.
According to a trial brief filed by the District Attorney's Office, the defendant was a frequent problem for his family, causing disturbances, taking vehicles without consent and exhibiting "an aggressive temperament (while) using drugs."
In March 2017, neither his mother or father wanted him in their respective homes because of his methamphetamine abuse and stealing, prosecutors said.
Pacheco maintained a rocky relationship with Garcia, causing her difficulties when he took her brother's Hyundai without asking, as well as swiping her mobile phone, according to prosecutors.
Early on the morning of March 17, 2017, he went to the victim's doublewide trailer in the area of Avenue 60 and Van Buren Street, telling her to come with him, though he appeared to the victim's cousin, Maria Solorio, to be highly agitated, prosecutors said.
Solorio tried to dissuade Garcia from going with the defendant, even standing behind the Hyundai to prevent him from driving off the property, but when he almost backed over her, she got out of the way, according to court papers.
The D.A.'s office said that sometime in the predawn hours of March 17, Pacheco allegedly attacked Garcia, using a knife to stab her numerous times in the head and neck.
"The stab wounds to the back of the neck were lethal, approximately six to eight inches deep, partially severing her trachea and completely severing the right pretibial artery,'' according to the brief.
The defendant dumped her remains on a dirt road leading into a small private cemetery near Body of Christ Church, 62950 Monroe Street in Thermal, prosecutors alleged.
Around noon on the same day, Pacheco returned to Garcia's trailer and allegedly set it aflame, the brief stated. A neighbor went to see what was happening and encountered Pacheco in the Hyundai with the victim's Chihuahua.
"The defendant told him, `This witch is (expletive) crazy. I tried to kill her, and she wouldn't die. I saw the devil in her face, and she wouldn't die,''' according to the brief.
The man told authorities that as he called the fire department, Garcia sped away. A witness, Duncan Cameron, was not far from Garcia's burning residence, taking pictures of coconut trees, when the defendant pulled alongside him, asking for money, prosecutors alleged.
Cameron became frightened by Pacheco's behavior, fearing he might have a gun, and jumped into his Mercedes to get away, according to prosecutors. He told sheriff's detectives that Pacheco allegedly tailed him, tapping his bumper several times, ultimately causing the witness to lose control. His Mercedes spun out and overturned on a dirt embankment along westbound Avenue 60 and suffered minor injuries, prosecutors said.
Pacheco went to his grandmother's home in the 51-700 block of Calle Torres Orduno in Coachella, where he walked into the kitchen and obtained a knife, then returned to the Hyundai, where a neighbor observed him "start beating a small dog,'' according to court papers.
He nearly decapitated the Chihuahua and threw the mortally injured animal and the butcher knife into nearby bushes, prosecutors alleged.
"The defendant's family came out and called 911,'' the brief said. "The defendant asked his grandmother to forgive him."
The woman handed him her cell phone, and Pacheco spoke with a 911 dispatcher, who told him to lay on the ground and wait for deputies, which he did, according to prosecutors. He was taken into custody without incident minutes later and turned over to homicide detectives, who had learned of Garcia's disappearance. They questioned Pacheco at length, and the following day, he agreed to take them to where the victim's body had been dumped, according to court papers.
They found the woman's remains, at which point Pacheco broke down in tears, the brief said.
He has a prior misdemeanor conviction for driving on a suspended license, according to court documents.
