Local News in Brief : Couple Ordered to Stand Trial in Kidnaping, Death of Girl, 14
A transient couple were ordered Tuesday to stand trial on charges they kidnaped and killed a Chatsworth teen-ager and attempted to murder her friend.
After a two-day preliminary hearing, Roland Norman Comtois, 58, and Marsha Lynn Ramos, 34, each were ordered held for trial on one count of murder, two counts of kidnaping and one count of attempted murder, a forcible lewd act upon a child and injecting a child with cocaine.
In addition, San Fernando Municipal Judge Paul I. Metzler ordered Comtois to stand trial on one count of attempted sodomy and forcible oral copulation. The judge dismissed the two sex counts against Ramos for lack of sufficient evidence.
The charges stem from the Sept. 18 abduction of the two girls that resulted in the death of 14-year-old Wendy Masuhara.
Masuhara and the other teen-ager were shot as they sat side by side in an abandoned green station wagon in Woolsey Canyon. The other girl, who managed to deflect the bullet, was injured in the hand and neck. After she regained consciousness, she sought help from passing motorists.
Comtois and Ramos are being held without bail in County Jail and Sybil Brand Institute, respectively. They are to be arraigned May 3.
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