Suspect in girl’s death denied bail reduction:
A bail reduction request for Heather Trujillo has been denied. She’s currently being held on $100K bond in the death of her sister Zoe Garcia. Trujillo and her 17-year-old boyfriend Lamar Roberts killed Garcia by allegedly imitating moves from a Mortal Kombat game.
16-year-old Trujillo has been charged as an adult and faces up to 48 years behind bars.
Dana Trujillo, mother of murder victim Zoe Garcia arrested:
Dana Trujillo, the mother of both Zoe Garcia and Heather Trujillo, was arrested this past Thursday on child abuse charges. Zoe Garcia was the 7-year-old killed by her sister and her sister’s boyfriend, Lamar Roberts, when they supposedly practiced ‘Mortal Kombat’ moves on Zoe. Heather Trujillo and Roberts are both being charged as adults for Zoe’s murder.
Dana Trujillo was arrested on an outstanding warrant from 2003 in New Mexico.
But the charges against the girls’ mother, Dana Trujillo, stem back to 2003, when Dana and three daughters lived in Socorro, N.M. Police in the small New Mexico town said Dana Trujillo is suspected of leaving her children, — then ages 12, 4. and 3.
“There was no assault or battery,” said Capt. Mike Winders of the Socorro Police Department. “The crime was that she was not feeding or caring for them properly, and that’s why we issued the warrant.”
It’s obvious that Mortal Kombat had nothing to do with Zoe’s murder, but the media just can’t let that go. It just shows how clueless they still are about video games. It’s not like they haven’t been around for 30+ years or anything.
Weld County probed in deaths of 7-year-olds:
Weld County’s Department of Social Services of Colorado is being investigated in the wake of the death of Zoe Garcia. As I’ve mentioned, Garcia was killed by her sister Heather Trujillo and her boyfriend Lamar Roberts when they beat Zoe to death while allegedly imitating Mortal Kombat.
Neighbors had contacted Weld County DSS with concerns about Zoe’s well-being, but apparently, DSS didn’t do enough. Yet, I’m sure some people will be too busy pointing fingers at a video game rather than a failure of the system and a horrendous family situation.
Teens charged in 7-year-old sister’s ‘Mortal Kombat’ death:
I’m sure by now you’ve heard the story about Lamar Roberts, 17, and Heather Trujillo, 16, of Colorado. They’re the dumbass kids who allegedly killed Trujillo’s sister Zoe Garcia, 7, by reenacting moves from Mortal Kombat.
They began wrestling and enacting a game of Mortal Kombat, court affidavits say. Zoe lost consciousness after being hit, kicked and body-slammed to the floor.
The documents say Trujillo told police she was on top of her sister “holding her arms down with her legs while tapping on her chest like a typewriter when the victim passed out.” Roberts was not wrestling but was acting “as the referee,” the affidavits say.
Trujillo said she sent Zoe to bed after she regained consciousness. When she checked on her about 15 minutes later, she was not breathing. Trujillo and Roberts tried to revive the girl in the shower and attempted CPR before calling the mother and then 911.
In an interview later at police headquarters, Trujillo said she tripped Zoe, “punched her in the stomach, karate chopped her lower arms, punched and pinched the victim’s thighs, kicked her in the shins, slapped her stomach and buttocks and poked at the victim’s chest.”
A witness quoted in an affidavit said Roberts told her he had kicked the girl and that his hands were “lethal weapons.”
The witness said Roberts performed a back kick and the girl didn’t get up. He said he and Trujillo “cracked an egg in her mouth . . . in an attempt to see if she was messing around with them” by faking unconsciousness.
I’m sure the one who shall not be named, that’s Jack Thompson for future reference, is frothing at the mouth over this one.
However, this has nothing to do with Mortal Kombat and everything to do with two kids with no regard for the welfare of others. In the case of Trujillo, her own family.
The video game did not make them this way. I would almost lay odds that lax supervision through their lives did.
And would you look at this? It seems that Zoe Garcia has been placed in questionable situations before…
Authorities in Socorro, N.M., filed three counts of abandonment or abuse of a child against Dana Trujillo in November 2003.
The complaint states that Trujillo left her children Heather, Zoe and the 9-year-old, who now lives with Anthony Garcia, in the house with a babysitter and didn’t return that night.
A neighbor complained the next day, and police went to the house with the paternal grandmother of the Garcia girls and woke up the babysitter in the back bedroom. The girls said they hadn’t eaten or bathed that day.
The girls were removed from the home twice, according to Garcia, and then returned to the mother.
So you can imagine what kind of upbringing they had. But some people will claim it was all about the video game. Those people are blind.
Both Roberts and Trujillo have been charged as adults and are looking at 16 to 48 behind bars.
Victim’s dad helps craft bill requiring blended sentences:
Ted Johnston is the father of Marlee Johnston. When Marlee was 14, she was bludgeoned to death with an aluminum baseball bat by 14-year-old Patrick Armstrong.
Armstrong allegedly admitted to cellmates that he enjoyed every minute of it. So it comes as something of a surprise that Ted Johnston has helped write legislation that would allow juveniles convicted as adults to spend part of their sentence in a juvenile facility prior to turning 18.
Ted Johnston said it’s wrong for juveniles who have committed even the most despicable crimes to be placed in adult prisons. He has been working on legislation drafted by the Attorney General’s Office that would require blended sentences for the youngest offenders.
Remembering his daughter Marlee as kind and compassionate, Johnston said he is trying to pay homage to that part of her through his own actions.
“We don’t need to be abandoning people _ even when they did something as horrible as Patrick (Armstrong) did,” Johnston said, referring to Marlee’s killer.
“I don’t think that’s right,” Johnston said. “I know Marlee wouldn’t either, so to honor her memory we had to make a change.”
Under the bill that Johnston helped develop, those under 16 who are tried and convicted as adults would be placed in juvenile facilities until they turn 18, and only then be transferred to adult prisons to complete their sentences.
Deputy Attorney General William Stokes said the legislation addresses the rare circumstance of someone very young committing a very serious offense.
“The dilemma we faced with Armstrong was we had a very young victim, and very young suspect who was also 14, who committed a horrendous act and very serious crime,” Stokes said.
Maybe in Maine, it’s rare, but just by reading this site you can see that it’s not so rare in other places.
Anyway, I have no problem with juveniles spending part of their sentences in a juvenile facility until they turn 18. However, don’t confuse compassion for weakness. I still fully endorse that juveniles that commit such horrendous acts like the brutal murder of Marlee Johnston still need to be tried as adults.
Judge Accepts Plea Deal In Armstrong Case:
It’s been almost a year since I’ve posted anything about Patrick Armstrong. The news out of Maine hasn’t been exactly forthcoming. With this story, we get a year’s worth of news all at once.
For those of you who may have forgotten, Patrick Armstrong was 14 at the time he was arrested for the murder of 14-year-old Marlee Johnston. During the investigation, police found a website made by Armstrong where he professed his admiration for serial killers and the Columbine killers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.
Today, Patrick Armstrong pleaded guilty to manslaughter. In return for his plea, he’ll serve 25 years with 9 years suspended.
Tell me if this sounds like manslaughter to you…
Armstrong is accused of brutally beating 14-year-old Marlee Johnston to death. In testimony Friday in Augusta, a state police detective testified Johnston was beaten repeatedly on the head with an aluminum baseball bat. The detective also said Armstrong told a fellow inmate that he “loved every minute of it.”
Detective Adam Kelley testified Johnston went to Armstrong’s house to see if she wanted him to join her in walking her dogs. They were neighbors in the town of Fayette.
So Marlee Johnston befriends Patrick Armstrong and in return, he bludgeoned her to death. And now he’ll be out when he’s 30, possibly sooner.
It could be that the Johnston family may just want to put it all behind them. If that’s true, I respect them for that. However, in my opinion, not enough justice was served.