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A convicted child sex offender was ordered Monday to stand trial on double murder charges in the deaths of two 6-year-old boys in 1981 and 1986.
Kenneth Kasten Rasmuson, 54, was arrested in March 2015 in Sandpoint, Idaho, after a DNA hit allegedly linked him to the July 2, 1981, killing of a boy identified in the criminal complaint as “Jeffrey.”
The victim’s body was found in Pomona by construction workers a day after he left his Anaheim Hills home to go to a fireworks stand, authorities said.
While Rasmuson was waiting trial on that count, prosecutors added a second capital murder count stemming from the April 8, 1986, death of a boy identified in the criminal complaint as “Miguel.”
His body was found in a wash in Agoura Hills the day he disappeared from outside his home, according to prosecutors. DNA evidence also links Rasmuson to Miguel’s killing, prosecutors allege.
The murder counts include the special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and that the boys were killed during the commission of a lewd or lascivious act on a child.
Rasmuson was held to answer on all counts as well as the special circumstance allegations.
The District Attorney’s Office will decide later whether to seek the death penalty against Rasmuson, who has a 1981 conviction from Santa Barbara County for sodomy of a person under 14.
Rasmuson is being held without bail and due to return to court for arraignment on Sept. 13.
–City News Service
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