Slain Fountain Valley Woman’s Business Partner Says Not Guilty
The man suspected of killing Kim Martello of Fountain Valley and dumping her body in the desert pleaded not guilty Monday to murder charges and asked for a speedy preliminary hearing, said Richard M. King, deputy district attorney.
Richard Lawrence Lockridge, 37, of La Crescenta entered his plea before Orange County Municipal Judge Roger B. Robbins, who ordered him held on $500,000 bail.
Lockridge was Martello’s business partner in ERB Foods at 325 S. Hale Ave. in Fullerton, a dessert-supply company. Authorities said they believe that a dispute over ownership of the company led to her death.
Martello, 28, left work July 22 for what she told co-workers was a business appointment. Her mother reported her missing the next day.
Transients found Martello’s body a few hundred yards off Highway 111 about a mile from Palm Springs on July 25. She had been strangled, police said.
Palm Springs police notified Fullerton police about the discovery Aug. 6, and a Riverside County coroner’s examiner identified the body as Martello’s the next day.
Lockridge, a father of two, was arrested Friday morning as he arrived for work at the ERB Foods office.
A preliminary hearing was set for Aug. 30.
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