San Diego

Opening statements and testimony will be made today in the trial of a man charged in the slaying of a 17-year-old girl, who was strangled after apparently being lured into a vacant house while walking to school in East San Diego.

Willie Ray Roberts, 36, of San Diego is charged with murder in the death of Melissa Orchulli on July 12, 1988. Her body was found in the vacant house.

The district attorney’s office has filed special-circumstances allegations that could lead to Roberts receiving the death penalty. The special circumstances allege that Roberts murdered the teen-ager while committing sex crimes.

After weeks of jury selection, six men and six women were sworn in last week by San Diego Superior Court Judge Norbert Ehrenfrend. Four alternates were also chosen.

Orchulli was a 10th-grader at Twain Eastern Satellite continuation school. Police believe she was lured or forced into the vacant house on Euclid Avenue while she was walking to school.

She was also beaten, and her schoolbooks and purse were found beside her body in a hallway.

The front door of the house was locked, but a prospective renter got in through the unlocked back door and saw her body.

At a preliminary hearing in January, 1989, teen-age girls testified that a man tried to lure them into the same house that morning as they were walking to school.

Roberts is also charged with assaulting another teen-age girl on June 29, 1988, and various sex crimes allegedly committed against Orchulli.

The defendant was originally arrested July 29, 1988, for parole violation. Court records show he was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon in 1986.