PASADENA : Pair Charged in Killing of Couple Last Week

Two San Bernardino County men were charged Monday by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office in the murders of a young Pasadena couple who were killed last week.

Cedric Charles Singleton, 27, of Riverside and Nicholas Dwayne Martin, 18, of Fontana are each charged with two counts of first-degree murder for allegedly killing Jeffrey Venable, 25, and his girlfriend, Robyn Braxton, 20, said Pasadena Police Lt. Wayne Hiltz.

Hiltz said Singleton and Martin are also charged with the special circumstances of robbery, burglary and kidnaping, which allows the prosecution to seek the death penalty.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Nishinaka said Singleton and Venable had known each other for years, and that Singleton spent the night as a guest in the apartment on Aug. 15. The next morning, Singleton returned with Martin and robbed the couple, Nishinaka said. Venable was suffocated in the couple’s apartment immediately afterward. Braxton was kidnaped, then shot to death the next day at a creek bed in Yucaipa.