mysteriew
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Subplots, twists keep arising out of what started as lurid sex slaying
In 1996, the rape and stabbing death of Monterey travel agent Starr Mooren made front-page news.
The 30-year-old woman was found in her small stucco home on Via Buena Vista by her fiancé, Tony Charafauros, who was ruled out as a suspect. She had been stabbed in the shoulder, chest and arm and was nearly decapitated, according to court records. In the kitchen sink, police found a bloody serrated knife. Mooren's body was nude from waist to ankles. Empty beer bottles and straws used to snort methamphetamine were found nearby.
The case has been a long odyssey since then. Police conducted DNA tests on dozens of potential suspects and called in a "profiler" to help identify the assailant, to no avail. Then in 2001, they arrested Mooren's brother-in-law, William Tyquiengco, in Las Vegas, where he and Mooren's sister moved after the murder. Tyquiengco, now 43, has been held in jail for four years, the longest such detention anyone in the Sheriff's Office can recall.
In another bizarre twist, an allegation surfaced recently that Tyquiengco's ex-wife, Jodi Tyquiengco, was conducting an online affair with one of the Monterey police detectives assigned to the case. In the meantime, animosity between the prosecutor and the defense attorney has grown to legendary status in the courthouse, with the prosecutor trying to remove the public defender from the case at one point.
Now, some nine years after the crime, the case is set to go to trial. Some 200 potential jurors will be called to the Salinas courthouse Monday to complete questionnaires that will help winnow them to 12 jurors and at least two alternates.
Beyond the obvious tabloid-like aspects of the case, it is notorious for another reason: the secrecy with which much of it has been conducted. Gag orders, closed hearings and the case file sequestered in a judge's chambers have severely limited the media and the public's access as the case proceeded through the halls of justice.
Cyber fantasies|
Excluded suspects|
Loveless marriage|
The District Attorney's Office is not seeking the death penalty in the case. If convicted as charged, Tyquiengco would face life in prison without parole.
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/12499070.htm
In 1996, the rape and stabbing death of Monterey travel agent Starr Mooren made front-page news.
The 30-year-old woman was found in her small stucco home on Via Buena Vista by her fiancé, Tony Charafauros, who was ruled out as a suspect. She had been stabbed in the shoulder, chest and arm and was nearly decapitated, according to court records. In the kitchen sink, police found a bloody serrated knife. Mooren's body was nude from waist to ankles. Empty beer bottles and straws used to snort methamphetamine were found nearby.
The case has been a long odyssey since then. Police conducted DNA tests on dozens of potential suspects and called in a "profiler" to help identify the assailant, to no avail. Then in 2001, they arrested Mooren's brother-in-law, William Tyquiengco, in Las Vegas, where he and Mooren's sister moved after the murder. Tyquiengco, now 43, has been held in jail for four years, the longest such detention anyone in the Sheriff's Office can recall.
In another bizarre twist, an allegation surfaced recently that Tyquiengco's ex-wife, Jodi Tyquiengco, was conducting an online affair with one of the Monterey police detectives assigned to the case. In the meantime, animosity between the prosecutor and the defense attorney has grown to legendary status in the courthouse, with the prosecutor trying to remove the public defender from the case at one point.
Now, some nine years after the crime, the case is set to go to trial. Some 200 potential jurors will be called to the Salinas courthouse Monday to complete questionnaires that will help winnow them to 12 jurors and at least two alternates.
Beyond the obvious tabloid-like aspects of the case, it is notorious for another reason: the secrecy with which much of it has been conducted. Gag orders, closed hearings and the case file sequestered in a judge's chambers have severely limited the media and the public's access as the case proceeded through the halls of justice.
Cyber fantasies|
Excluded suspects|
Loveless marriage|
The District Attorney's Office is not seeking the death penalty in the case. If convicted as charged, Tyquiengco would face life in prison without parole.
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/12499070.htm