2 Teen-Agers to Return to State for Trial in Zuma Beach Slaying

Attorneys for two New Mexico teen-agers charged with the fatal stabbing of a woman in a Zuma Beach restroom said Wednesday that the youths will return to California to stand trial in the highly publicized case.

The attorneys signed papers Wednesday agreeing to the teen-agers’ extradition between Aug. 1 and 5, giving the youths a chance to see their families.

“They just want more time to visit with their parents before they leave,” said attorney Janet Clow, who represents defendant Guillermo Bustos, 16.

Todd Wertheim, a Santa Fe County public defender for 17-year-old Michael Loretto, said he signed a similar agreement on his client’s behalf.

Bustos and Loretto have been held in a juvenile detention facility in New Mexico while attorneys and prosecutors worked out details of the extradition.

The youths are being held in New Mexico on charges of violating terms of their probation in a prior vandalism case.

But Clow said it is unlikely that those charges will be pursued.

The teen-agers will obtain new attorneys in Los Angeles.

The teen-agers, both from Pojoaque outside Santa Fe, have been charged with murder and robbery in the May 28 stabbing of Northridge resident Jacqueline Kirkham.

Detectives say the youths attacked Kirkham, 43, so they could use her car and money to return to New Mexico, which they fled by bus to avoid a burglary investigation.

Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, said prosecutors hope to try the youths as adults.

She said they will seek a penalty of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Jason Alexander, 17, who accompanied Bustos and Loretto on their May trip from New Mexico to Los Angeles, has not been charged in the murder.

He was released to his parents’ custody last week, said his attorney, George Adelo.