Young Pair Will Stand Trial in Mother’s Death

A teenager who allegedly left the door of her home unlocked in a plot to kill her mother, and her boyfriend, who allegedly shot and knifed the woman to death, were ordered Friday to stand trial on murder charges.

In a preliminary hearing, Burbank Municipal Judge Alan Kalkin ruled there was enough evidence against Amber Merrie Bray, 18, and Jeffrey Glenn Ayers, 22, to bring them to trial on charges of killing Dixie Lee Hollier, 42, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

The pair also face special circumstance counts of killing for financial gain and lying in wait, which carry a possible death penalty, according to the district attorney’s office.

Authorities say the pair believed the girl would collect a $300,000 insurance policy on her mother’s life.

Hollier, manager of international projects at Warner Bros. Records, was killed Jan. 16.

Police who went to Hollier’s West Oak Street home after neighbors reported hearing screams about 5 a.m. said they found Ayers in the house standing over the bloody body with knife in hand. Ayers then put his hands in the air and said, “OK, you got me,” the officers said.

Authorities contend the couple plotted the killing for two months before Ayers entered through a door left unlocked by his girlfriend, a onetime honors student.

Hollier tried to run down the hall when the first bullet was fired at her bed, but Ayers followed her, beat her and severed her windpipe with a kitchen knife, police allege.

Prosecutors say Bray and her mother had a rocky relationship, but relatives have said the problems were typical of those between a mother and teenage daughter.

Hollier had two other children--Amy, 15, and Benjamin, 5--both of whom were in the house at the time of the slaying.

Bray and Ayers, who are being held without bail, are due to appear in Pasadena Superior Court on Aug. 26 for another pretrial hearing, authorities said.