California IN BRIEF : SANTA ANA : Girl’s Killer Gets Death Sentence

A Superior Court jury announced Wednesday that Richard Lucio DeHoyos, an unemployed fast-food worker, should die in the gas chamber for the rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl in a motel room. The jury deliberated for five days on whether DeHoyos should be sentenced to death or imprisoned for life for the murder of Nadia Puente, whose body was found in a trash can in Griffith Park in Los Angeles the day after her March 20, 1989, abduction. DeHoyos, 34, who at times snarled and barked like a dog during earlier court sessions, showed no emotion when the verdict was read. His formal sentencing was set for Dec. 6 before Superior Court Judge Everett W. Dickey. Nadia Puente’s murder was one of the most vicious crimes in recent Orange County history. The girl was lured into a car by DeHoyos, who posed as a teacher, who then took her to a Santa Ana motel where he assaulted and drowned her.