SAN DIEGO : Man Charged With Slaying Tourist
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An alleged Spring Valley gang member faces murder charges after prosecutors charged him Tuesday with killing a Laotian tourist whose body has never been recovered.
Percyval Leslie Dryden, 25, had previously been charged with kidnaping 18-year-old Phouvilay Thetsombandith from the 6000 block of Brooklyn Avenue in East San Diego on Aug. 18.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Rupert Linley said several witnesses identified Dryden as the man who forced an Asian male into a car the day Thetsombandith disappeared.
Thetsombandith was abducted apparently because Dryden suspected he was responsible for burglarizing his car, even though area residents told Dryden he had the wrong man, Linley said.
Dryden has pleaded innocent to the charges against him. He will be held in lieu of $1 million bail pending a preliminary hearing next Wednesday.
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