via Sheriff’s Information Bureau
A 17-year-old boy accused of fatally stabbing his 16- year-old ex-girlfriend in her Pico Rivera home last month while her mother slept upstairs pleaded not guilty Thursday to a murder charge.
Rory Murga of Pico Rivera is being prosecuted as an adult in the Aug. 12 death of Elena Lillian Moore.
The teens had been involved in a relationship for about a year, but the victim had broken up with Murga two weeks before she was killed, according to prosecutors and detectives.
Murga allegedly stabbed his former girlfriend multiple times before fleeing from her home in the 9800 block of Shade Lane. The mortally wounded girl made it upstairs, where her mother was awakened by her daughter’s screams and called 911, authorities said.
The girl died at the scene. Information provided by her mother pointed to the teen’s former boyfriend as the suspect, and sheriff’s deputies announced later that day that they were looking for Murga.
He was taken into custody Aug. 16 after patrolling deputies spotted him under a railroad underpass at Rosemead Boulevard and Slauson Avenue.
Murga is due back in a Norwalk courtroom Oct. 13, when a date is scheduled to be set for a hearing to determine if there is sufficient evidence to require him to stand trial.
If convicted as charged, he could face up to 26 years to life in state prison if convicted.
–City News Service
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