LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Latest on the arrest of a man suspected of killing a teenage girl and a young woman in Los Angeles County in 2011 (all times local):
6:20 p.m.
A Los Angeles man has pleaded not guilty to killing a teenage girl and 22-year-old woman six years ago.
Thirty-two-year-old Geovanni Borjas entered the pleas Tuesday in a Los Angeles County court to charges of murder, rape and kidnapping. His attorney did not return a call seeking comment from The Associated Press.
Police said earlier Tuesday that Borjas is suspected in the slayings of 17-year-old Michelle Lozano and Bree’Anna Guzman.
LAPD Chief Charlie Beck says investigators used the rare and controversial tactic of familial DNA testing to find him. It allows investigators to search databases to identify likely relatives of the person who may have committed the crime.
Beck says detectives then followed Borjas and collected his DNA when he spit on the sidewalk. He says that sample matched DNA from both of the victims, whose bodies were dumped along freeways in 2011.
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2:40 p.m.
Los Angeles police identified a man suspected of killing a 17-year-old girl and a 22-year-old woman by using a controversial DNA testing method.
Chief Charlie Beck said Tuesday investigators identified 32-year-old Geovanni Borjas as a suspect using familial DNA testing. It allows investigators to search databases to identify likely relatives of the person who may have committed the crime.
Borjas is suspected in the slayings of 17-year-old Michelle Lozano and 22-year-old Bree’Anna Guzman.
Beck says detectives then followed Borjas and collected his DNA when he spit on the sidewalk. He says that sample matched DNA from both of the victims.
He says both of the victims were sexually assaulted before they were killed. Their bodies were dumped along freeways in 2011.
It’s not immediately clear if Borjas has an attorney who could comment.
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2:10 p.m.
Los Angeles County prosecutors have charged a man with killing a 17-year-old girl and a 22-year-old woman whose bodies were found dumped along freeways in 2011.
The district attorney’s office says 32-year-old Geovanni Borjas of suburban Torrance, California, was charged Tuesday with two counts each of murder and forcible rape, and one count of kidnapping.
The filing also includes so-called special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and murder in the commission of a rape and a kidnapping. The special circumstances could make Borjas eligible for the death penalty if he’s convicted. Prosecutors, however, have not decided whether to seek the death penalty.
It’s not immediately clear if Borjas has an attorney who could comment. He’s due to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon.
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11:30 a.m.
Police have arrested a man suspected of killing two women in 2011 and dumping their bodies on California freeways.
Los Angeles police say 32-year-old Geovanni Borjas was arrested May 25 on suspicion of murder. It wasn’t immediately clear if he had an attorney who could comment.
Borjas is suspected in the slayings of 17-year-old Michelle Lozano and 22-year-old Bree’Anna Guzman.
Police suspect both women were kidnapped and killed.
Lozano’s body was found inside a container in brush along Interstate 5 in Los Angeles in April 2011. Guzman’s remains were found in January 2012 along an entrance ramp to State Route 2 in Los Angeles.
Police have said forensic evidence links the two killings.
Police Chief Charlie Beck is expected to provide additional details at a Tuesday afternoon news conference.
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