Santa Ana : Arraignment Delayed in Nadia Puente Case
Richard Lucio De Hoyos’ arraignment on murder charges in connection with the death of 9-year-old Nadia Puente of Santa Ana was postponed Friday to May 5.
De Hoyos, a 31-year-old drifter from Texas, is accused of picking up Nadia near Diamond Elementary School in Santa Ana on March 20, then taking her to his Santa Ana hotel room and suffocating her. Her body was found the next day in Griffith Park.
De Hoyos has admitted the killing in jailhouse interviews. He was arrested in Texas 2 weeks after the slaying.
Present for the scheduled arraignment in Central Municipal Court on Friday was Sara Puente, 27, the victim’s mother, accompanied by friends and relatives. But the arraignment was postponed because of a scheduling conflict for the defendant’s lawyer.
Besides a murder count, De Hoyos faces special circumstances of kidnaping, rape, sodomy and child molestation. The added circumstances permit prosecutors to seek the death penalty against De Hoyos if he is convicted.
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