12 August 2010, 6:14 pm
BARSTOW • An illegal immigrant from Barstow will stand trial for the May rape and murder of an Arizona woman in a Barstow motel. Judge Glenn Yabuno ruled Thursday that there was enough evidence for Cesar Rascon, 31, to face a jury trial for the killing of Melissa Curley, 33, of Arizona. Rascon is charged with murder, rape, and kidnapping for the purposed of rape. Curley’s body was found by her friend, Stewart Johnson in a room at the Sunset Motel on the morning of May 15. Detective Leo Griego gave testimony describing a surveillance video from the motel that he viewed showing Curley arriving at the Sunset Inn, drunk, staggering and barely able to stand. The video footage also showed Johnson trying to help her up and get her into her room. After Johnson gave up on attempting to help Curley and left her leaning against her truck, Griego said that the video showed Rascon forcibly taking Curley into his room. Griego said that he interviewed Johnson, who said that he went out to a nearby tavern drinking with Curley, and that Rascon was also at the bar. The video footage that Griego described also showed a red Toyota station wagon arriving at the motel at around 11:20 p.m. and leaving a short time later. Griego said that the Toyota was located at a nearby junkyard, where the owner of the yard said that the man who was driving the wagon returned it, saying it wasn’t running and left for work at a Yermo gas station, where he was located by police. Griego said that Rascon initially gave another name upon being questioned, and denied having sex with Curley but, later said that he did. Forensic pathologist Steven Trenkle testified that he examined Curley’s body and concluded that she died from a combination of being strangled and asphyxiation from a plastic bag that was shoved down her throat, with alcohol intoxication and injuries from a recent drunken fall as contributing factors. Rascon’s lawyer, Susan Slater said that there was a gap in the surveillance tape between 6:30 and 9 a.m. on May 15, and there was no evidence linking Rascon to the killing other than footage of Rascon and Curley entering Rascon’s room. Slater said that Curley entered the room on her own free will and that she did not pull away from Rascon on the video, but was drunkenly swaying. She said that kidnapping and rape charges should be dropped. Judge Yabuno said that Curley was so intoxicated that she was nearly comatose and did not drop the rape or kidnapping charges. http://www.desertdispatch.com/news/barstow-9033-trail-arizona.html... Read More »
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