Death Penalty Sought in Woman’s ’93 Slaying
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The Ventura County district attorney’s office will seek the death penalty against a 29-year-old Port Hueneme man accused in the 1993 rape and stabbing death of an 87-year-old deaf and mute woman, officials said Thursday.
Ricardo Villa was arrested at a local auto shop in April in connection with the June 27, 1993, slaying of Beatrice Bellis.
The identification of Villa was made after investigators compared a DNA sample taken from the suspect with decade-old DNA evidence found at the scene, said Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Bill Haney.
Bellis, left deaf and mute by a childhood case of scarlet fever, had lived at the Mar Vista senior center on East Scott Street in Port Hueneme since 1989.
She was stabbed repeatedly in the chest in her one-bedroom apartment.
Her body, covered with a blanket, was found by her brother, Haney said.
At the time of Bellis’ death, Villa was a part-time maintenance worker in her Port Hueneme building, authorities said.
The trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 18, Haney said.
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