Coroner Confirms Charred Remains Are Missing Teen
HEMET -DNA testing confirmed that the charred human remains found in a shallow grave in a Hemet backyard were that of 17-year-old Adrian Rios, authorities said today.
Police have questioned what were believed to be key witnesses or suspects, but no one has been charged in the Nov. 15 death at a rented home at 1440 Bluejay Way. Rios is believed to have been shot with a .22-caliber gun and his remains burned.
Jose Campos, 17, the suspected gunman, and his girlfriend, Felicia Sharp, 17, are wanted in the death of Rios, whose mother reported him missing Nov. 16, after she went to the Bluejay home where her son had been spotted and found what looked like his sneaker, according to investigators.
A third suspect — 21-year-old Rene Lopez-Fregozo — was found Dec. 4 at a home on the 25000 block of Highway 74 in the Perris area, questioned, then released pending further investigation, according to Hemet police Capt. Tony Margis.
Neighbors recalled a powerful stench emanating from a Sunday night bonfire, which was set after several youths gathered at the house, reportedly to watch a football game.
Campos stepfather, Jose Juan Seym, 29, and his mother, 45-year-old Maria Alvarado Seym, were arrested Dec. 3 and booked on suspicion of felony accessory to murder in Murrieta but never charged.
Sharp was initially reported missing along with Campos and Rios in mid-November. She showed up with her mother at Hemet police headquarters Nov. 25 after the human remains were found.
She was questioned and released, but she hasn’t been seen since.
“Quite frankly, there wasn’t enough evidence to hold her,” Margis said.
Campos apparently had lived at the home on Bluejay Way, but neighbors said the family moved out about a week before the night of the bonfire.
Margis said police believe at least six people were at the house around the time Rios was killed.
Rios’ mother, Elodia Lopez, went to find her son Nov. 16 after being told he was last seen at the home on Bluejay Way.
Lopez found a sneaker that resembled her son’s shoe, and the sneaker had “some sort of dried reddish” substance on it, according to Margis.
Detectives found a shallow grave, two feet and other bone fragments, Margis said. They also found drag marks in the backyard.
Police who searched the home found a machete, a .22-caliber shell, a shovel, butcher knives, a gas canister, burnt pieces of what looks like clothing, a partially burned T-shirt; pieces of rope, a sock, a yellow metal hoop earring and a Hemet Police Department ticket issued to Jose Campos.
