Boyfriend pleads not guilty to Calif. teen’s murder; search for body continues at landfill

Boyfriend pleads not guilty to teenager’s murder

FONTANA, Calif. — A teenager who police say admitted killing his pregnant girlfriend has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder while the search for her body continued at a Southern California landfill.

Fontana police Sgt. Billy Green says about 50 people were scouring the landfill Tuesday for the body of 17-year-old Anyssia Escamilla.

Escamilla’s 18-year-old boyfriend, Jesus Avitia Jr., was arraigned in San Bernardino County Superior Court in Fontana. His bail was set at $2 million.

Escamilla was reported missing on May 11 when she failed to return home from school.

Green says police interviewed Avitia and he told them he killed the girl and put her in a trash can near his Fontana home.

Escamilla was three months’ pregnant.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

FONTANA, Calif. (AP) — Police aided by dogs and a sheriff’s search-and-rescue team returned to a Rialto landfill Tuesday to search for the body of a pregnant 17-year-old whose boyfriend allegedly confessed to killing her.

Diggers searched for Anyssia Escamilla’s body for more than 12 hours on Monday and planned to do the same Tuesday in a 50-by-25-yard area filled with tons of trash. If nothing is found, they will move to another landfill in Corona, Fontana police Sgt. Billy Green said.

“We’re cautiously hopeful,” he said. “We realize the enormity of the task before us, but we’re going to do everything we can to bring some closure to the family.”

Escamilla, the mother of a 3-year-old son from another relationship, never returned home from Bloomington High School on May 11. Investigators interviewed her 18-year-old boyfriend, Jesus Avitia Jr.

Avitia told police that he killed the Bloomington girl and placed her body in a trash can near his Fontana home, Green said.

Her body apparently was never seen by trash-truck drivers who use a robotic arm to empty cans. The trash was taken to one of the two dumps.

Avitia was charged Monday with murdering Escamilla and her fetus. She was three months pregnant.

The charges carry a special-circumstance allegation of multiple murder, but prosecutors had not decided whether to seek the death penalty, said Susan Mickey, a spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County district attorney’s office.

Avitia remained jailed Tuesday. Mickey did not immediately know whether he had a lawyer.

Detectives did not know how Escamilla was killed because Avitia gave conflicting statements, Green said.

Investigators also were trying to determine a motive, though Avitia indicated he was unhappy that his girlfriend was carrying his child, Green said.

Escamilla’s family said Avitia’s family didn’t approve of him seeing a girl who already had a child. Her parents said the two had been dating for about a year.