Jury deliberations start for 1 of 2 accused of killing crime witness

Jury deliberations began today in the trial of one of two defendants accused in the slaying of an 18-year-old woman, who was a witness to the defendant's alleged attack on her boyfriend.

Alexis Daniel Rosas, 28, of Indio, is charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder, special circumstance allegations of killing a witness to a crime and lying in wait, along with sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations, for the 2019 death of Makayla Jean Massey, also
known as Anita Garcia, of Victorville.

The prosecution and defense completed closing arguments in Rosas' trial Wednesday morning, after which Riverside County Superior Court Judge Jennifer Gerard sent his jury behind closed doors to weigh evidence from the nearly three-week trial at the Larson Justice Center in Indio.

Rosas' co-defendant and one-time girlfriend, 32-year-old Maury Duarte of Indio, is charged identically and being tried in the same courtroom but has a separate jury. The judge directed that panel to return to the courthouse Thursday morning for closing arguments.

Duarte is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning, and Rosas is being held without bail at the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta.

According to a trial brief filed by the District Attorney's Office, Massey's boyfriend, identified only as ``Abram,'' had been at odds with Rosas, a documented member of an Indio street gang, bearing the moniker ``Trigger,'' for some time. The conflict had resulted in the defendant allegedly harassing and attacking the victim on multiple occasions, including beating him to the ground in a park.

On June 24, 2019, the feud led to Rosas allegedly going to the abandoned house in the 45-400 block of Oasis Street where Abram and Massey were residing and shooting him in the chest -- an act which the victim witnessed and related to Indio police immediately afterward, the brief stated.

Abram was hospitalized but ultimately recovered from the non-life-threatening wound.

After the shooting, Massey checked into a Motel 6 in Indio, possibly in an attempt to hide, but Rosas learned of her whereabouts and that she had made contact with police, prompting him to plan her murder, prosecutors alleged.

He enlisted Duarte's assistance, and they used her 2005 Toyota Camry for transportation. In the predawn hours of June 25, 2019, Rosas went to the victim's motel room and persuaded her to come out, then physically restrained her inside the Toyota, which Duarte drove in the direction of a recently vacated ranch property in the 82-600 block of Avenue 53 in Thermal, court papers alleged.

Once at the location, Rosas shoved the petrified victim out of the car and ordered to start walking toward a gate.   

"The defendant kicked her in the stomach, causing her to fall to the ground,'' the brief said. "Rosas then shot Makayla five times. One shot was to her head. He knew he had killed her after the second shot, but he continued to shoot bullets into her body."

He left the victim where she was slain and got back into the Toyota with Duarte, at which point the pair headed back toward Indio, dumping the .380-caliber semiautomatic pistol that he'd allegedly killed the victim with on a roadside along the way, according to the prosecution.   

Massey's remains were discovered within a couple of days, leading to a sheriff's investigation that pointed to Rosas as the alleged murderer, according to court documents.

The defendants were arrested without incident on Avenue 42 in Indio on June 30, 2019.

Court papers said both Rosas and Duarte conspired in retail fraud, but neither has documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.