Defendant Admits Strangling Ojai Valley Teenager

In a stunning turnaround on the eve of trial, murder defendant David Alvarez admitted Friday to strangling Ventura County teenager Kali Manley, and prosecutors agreed to drop the remaining charges against him.

The plea agreement, reached after days of behind-the-scenes negotiations, gives Alvarez a glimmer of hope of being released from prison someday.

And it brings an end to a case that struck a nerve in the serene Ojai Valley, where hundreds of people searched for the missing 14-year-old high school freshman from Oak View and mourned her death.

Manley disappeared from a sleepover at a girlfriend’s house on Dec. 19, 1998, after climbing into a truck with Alvarez and another man.

For more than a year after Alvarez led authorities to her strangled body, he maintained his innocence in the slaying.

On Friday, however, the 23-year-old Ojai man walked into Ventura County Superior Court during a hastily arranged hearing and pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree murder.

With his parents seated nearby, Alvarez answered a series of questions posed by state Deputy Atty. Gen. Michael Katz. But Alvarez did not offer any explanation of how--or why--the crime occurred.

Defense attorney James M. Farley said his client might make a statement at a March 30 sentencing hearing.

“From the very beginning, David had always said he would admit that which he had done,” Farley said. “He is remorseful. She lost her life at his hands, and he deserves to forfeit his life--and that in essence is what he is doing by his plea.”

Alvarez faces 25 years to life in prison when sentenced next month. Because of an allegation that he tried to rape the girl, he could have faced a life sentence without possibility of parole if the case had gone to trial. But state prosecutors agreed to strike that allegation and others in exchange for the guilty plea to murder.

The state attorney general’s office took over the case at the request of Ventura County Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury, who bowed out because of his friendship with the defendant’s parents.