Gang Member Faces Trial in Slaying

A 22-year-old Oxnard gang member was ordered Thursday to stand trial on a single count of murder in the Sept. 10 slaying of an Oxnard woman.

Salvador Sumaran is accused of strangling Janet Williams, 20, in a Saviers Road motel room and dumping her body out a window. He has pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors presented evidence at a preliminary hearing Thursday to support the charge. A judge found there was sufficient evidence to order Sumaran to stand trial.

Sumaran’s next court appearance is set for Dec. 2.

During Thursday’s hearing, two detectives testified about the events surrounding Williams’ death.

Relatives told authorities she left home Sept. 10 to attend a party with friends. Her beaten and strangled body was found the next day outside a room of the Ros-eda Motel. Police say the room was registered to Sumaran.

One detective testified Thursday that a cab driver identified Sumaran as the man he picked up with an unidentified woman on the night of the slaying.

Sumaran and the woman asked the driver to recommend a “cheap motel” and then asked the driver to return one hour later to pick them up at the Ros-eda, the detective testified.

After the hearing, defense attorney Willard Wiksell said the evidence against his client was thin, adding that the hearing was the first step in a long process.

“The only link that was made,” he said, “was that the defendant was at the hotel at 5 p.m. on the day of the murder, and she was found 18 hours later.”