Suspect Rearraigned in 1990 Park Slaying : Crime: Nathaniel Blalock and Duncan Martinez are accused in the killing of their roommate, Ronald Baker.

The case of a UCLA student whose mangled corpse was discovered more than four years ago at a Chatsworth park inched closer to justice Thursday when a former Van Nuys man was rearraigned on murder charges and authorities forged forward with attempts to have a second suspect extradited from Utah.

Nathaniel Blalock, 26, who pleaded not guilty last June to a count of murder with the special-circumstance allegation of lying in wait, was rearraigned Thursday on an additional special-circumstance allegation of committing murder for financial gain.

Special-circumstance allegations allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty against a defendant in murder cases. However, Deputy Dist. Atty. Anne Ingalls said that based on the facts of the case and Blalock’s history, her office instead would seek a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. She would not elaborate on the reasons.

Blalock and co-defendant Duncan Martinez, 24, are accused in the knife slaying of their roommate, Ronald Baker, a 21-year-old UCLA astrophysics major whose body was found in June, 1990, near a railroad tunnel in Chatsworth Park.

Authorities have stated in court documents they believe Blalock killed Baker during a kidnap attempt designed to extort money from Baker’s parents, but they have declined in interviews to specify what role Martinez played in the killing. A grand jury indicted both men.

Martinez, who helped police unravel the case against Blalock and ultimately himself, is fighting extradition from Salt Lake City, Utah, on charges identical to those against Blalock, police said. Ingalls said her office has not made a decision whether to seek the death penalty against Martinez.

The killing of Baker, who had been stabbed 18 times and whose head was nearly severed, initially prompted detectives to investigate whether his exploration of the occult had somehow gotten him killed.

The tall, slender youth with curly blond hair frequently meditated in the railroad tunnel, which had been the scene of occult activities and purported animal sacrifices, police said. Police got a break in the case when an attorney representing Martinez contacted them in February of last year and arranged a meeting during which Martinez discussed the night of Baker’s death and events which he said followed.

Martinez also agreed to tape three conversations with Blalock that police later used to confront Blalock and get a taped confession of the stabbing from him. Blalock also told detectives during the conversation that the kidnap and extortion plot was Martinez’s idea.

Prosecutors had at one time considered charging Martinez with lesser counts or using him as a witness at Blalock’s trial because he had cooperated with authorities. However, Ingalls said, her office decided to seek murder charges against Martinez based on the role they believe he played in Baker’s slaying.

“He was obviously very active in this case,” Ingalls said.

Martinez, who eulogized Baker at his funeral, was working as a waiter and attending the University of Utah at the time of his arrest. He is being held at a Salt Lake City jail, pending extradition to Los Angeles County where he is expected to be arraigned in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Martinez and Blalock had moved into a Van Nuys apartment in January, 1990, that Ron Baker’s parents had helped their son rent the previous month, according to Katherine Baker, the victim’s mother.

Baker said her son had met Martinez, who would join the Baker family for birthdays, during his freshman year of college when they both worked at Sears, Roebuck & Co., and that they later shared a West Hollywood apartment for about a year.

“I think it’s proper that they (Blalock and Martinez) are both being charged because it’s clear they were both involved,” she said in an interview Thursday.