Not-Guilty Plea Entered in Slaying
A Fillmore man pleaded not guilty Monday to first-degree murder in the New Year’s Eve killing of a 19-year-old college student.
Samuel Puebla, 18, remained in Ventura County Jail without bail. He also pleaded not guilty to a special-circumstance charge that the slaying of Valerie Zavala, a San Jose State sophomore, occurred during a rape attempt, said Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Maeve Fox.
Although Puebla was 17 years old at the time of the killing, he will be tried as an adult, Fox said. A preliminary hearing was set for Oct. 14.
Zavala’s partly clothed body was found Jan. 1 in a concrete drainage pipe under South Mountain Road in an agricultural area between Santa Paula and Fillmore.
More to Read
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
