Second suspect in Coachella Valley missing couple case pleads guilty
Eric Rios, one of the suspects charged in the high-profile criminal cases surrounding the disappearance and deaths of a Coachella Valley couple, has pled guilty.
Jonathan Darling Reynoso, 28, and Audrey Moran, 26, were last heard on May 10, 2017. In the summer of 2020, Rios was among a group of six total suspects who were identified as suspects in the deaths of Reynoso and Moran.
Rios, 32, of Coachella, was charged alongside other suspects including Abraham Fregoso Jr., Manuel Rios, Aaron Fernando Bernal, and Adilene Ines Castaneda.
Eric Rios was charged with two counts of being an accessory to a crime after the fact. "It was a plea to the court, not a plea agreement with our office," clarified John Hall, from the Riverside County District Attorney's Office.
Bottom: Manuel Rios & Eric Rios
Watch: Friends of the missing couple react to arrest made in the case
Bernal and Castaneda were charged with one count each of murder and being an accessory to a crime after the fact.
Manuel Rios, Fregoso, Bernal, and Castaneda also face a special circumstance allegation of killing a witness of a crime, which could make them eligible for the death penalty if prosecutors opt to pursue it.
Last fall, another person charged in the case pled guilty to his role. On Sept. 10, Jesus Ruiz Jr. pleaded guilty to two counts of wilfully and unlawfully having knowledge of the murders of Reynoso and Moran as well as harboring and concealing two of the suspects, Manuel Rios, 28, of Coachella and Abraham Fregoso Jr., 33, of Indio.
MORE: Man pleads guilty to harboring suspects in murders of Coachella Valley couple
Ruiz, 42, of Stockon, was sentenced to two years in prison on Sept. 22, however, he was released due to time served, according to John Hall, public information officer for the Riverside County District Attorney's office.
The couple's disappearance prompted family, loved ones, and the community to work for three years to find answers as to what happened.
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At a hearing last week, the judge overseeing the case against the remaining defendants decided to move the proceedings back to Riverside from Indio. It had been scheduled to be handled in Indio to better accommodate the schedules of all involved, according to Riverside County District Attorney's Office Spokesman John Hall. The DA's office said the decision was made to move it back to Riverside because there were no open courtrooms to hold the preliminary in Indio. The preliminary hearing for all five suspects is scheduled to be held on Feb. 28.
News Channel 3 has been reporting new developments in this case for years.
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said in June 2020 that the victims were known to their alleged killers, but would not comment further. Back in 2018, News Channel 3 I-Team investigator John White went to a Coachella home, where neighbors at the time said Bernal lived, then calling him Moran's ex-boyfriend.
Search warrants revealed authorities were looking for Bernal's car and found it burned in a field in Thermal just days after the couple disappeared in an apparent arson fire.
The Riverside County Sheriff's Department announced in October 2020 that skeletal remains discovered at an unspecified location in the Coachella Valley months prior had been positively identified as those of Moran and Reynoso.
Authorities announced on June 30, 2020, that their remains were located. Bianco said the remains were located in an unspecified location in the Coachella Valley.
The DNA results for the couple's remains were released on Oct. 16, 2020, confirming their identities.
“It’s a match. It’s a match for Jonathan,” recalled Reynoso's mother in a post on Facebook describing her conversation with an investigator.
Stay with News Channel 3 for continuing updates.
