Jury begins deliberations in Coachella Valley couple murder trial
In a case that began with a suspicious disappearance, closing arguments wrapped up Wednesday in the trial of two suspects accused in the 2017 killing of a Coachella Valley couple.
The jury has begun deliberations on the trial against Aaron Bernal and Adilene Castaneda, who, along with Manuel Rios and Abraham Fregoso, are suspected in the deaths of Jonathan Reynoso, 28, and Audrey Moran, 26.
Rios is charged with two counts of murder, while the others are each charged with a single count of murder. Bernal, Fregoso, and Castaneda are additionally charged with a single count of being an accessory after the fact.
The jury will begin its deliberations in the trial against Bernal and Castaneda on Monday.
Rios and Fregoso await their trial.
The investigation began when Reynoso and Moran vanished on May 10, 2017.
Investigators pieced together Moran's final known movements through cell phone data, tracking her path from her workplace in Palm Desert to Reynoso's apartment, where she had told family she was picking him up following his return from a trip.
Two days later, police discovered Moran's abandoned vehicle along the interstate in Beaumont.
The case against the suspects was strengthened by testimony from Jesus Ruiz Jr., who pleaded guilty along with Eric Rios in February to charges of aiding the suspects' escape from arrest.
During court proceedings, Ruiz Jr. testified to digging a hole at an Indio home in 2017, allegedly intended for the victims' bodies. He further revealed that Fregoso approached him close to a year later to help exhume the bodies to conceal their location.
Crucial testimony from Carlos Mendoza, an undercover agent with the Riverside County Sheriff's Office, revealed the murders allegedly stemmed from a drug deal gone wrong.
According to Mendoza, Fregoso admitted in an undercover interview that after Reynoso was killed, he strangled Moran when she became distraught. The bodies were then dismembered, submerged in acid, and buried at the Indio property.
All four primary suspects - Bernal, Castaneda, Rios, and Fregoso - have pleaded not guilty to the murders.
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News Channel 3 has been following the story from the very beginning in 2017 and will continue to keep you updated throughout the day with any developments in from court in Riverside.
