PASADENA : Man Convicted in Murder, Rapes of Neighbors
After fewer than two days of deliberation, a Pasadena Superior Court jury Thursday convicted a Rosemead man of raping and murdering a neighbor, then sexually assaulting her 6- and 9-year old daughters.
Prosecutors charged that Andrew Ray Arias, 24, broke into the home of the 28-year-old mother, beat her on the head with a crystal decanter, tied her, and bound her head in duct tape. He filled a bowl with water and placed her face in it, asphyxiating her. He then attacked her daughters.
Arias lived in an apartment complex next door to the victims’ home on San Gabriel Boulevard. He was arrested three months after the May 4, 1990, slaying when detectives matched a bloody handprint left on the decanter with a print taken after Arias broke into the home of another neighbor, who was not hurt, prosecutors said.
During the penalty phase, set to begin Wednesday, prosecutors will argue that Arias should be sentenced to death for his conviction on 10 felony counts.
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