Soldier Pleads Not Guilty in Slaying of TV Engineer
An Operation Desert Storm veteran who fled his post in Oklahoma pleaded not guilty Friday to charges he robbed and murdered a Glendale television news engineer and buried his body in the Angeles National Forest.
John Louis Rex, 22, has been charged with one count each of murder and robbery as well as a special circumstances allegation that the murder was committed during a robbery. If convicted, he could be sentenced to die in the California gas chamber.
Rex, who was absent without leave from Ft. Sill in Oklahoma, is suspected of shooting to death KCOP news engineer Jeffrey Webreck on Sept. 3 and burying his body in a shallow grave along a forest road. Prosecutors also charge that Rex stole Webreck’s brown BMW, his credit cards and several pieces of electronic equipment belonging to the station that Webreck carried in his car.
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