CA - Starr Mooren, 30, raped & murdered, Monterey, 12 Dec 1996

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

What do you think the chances of a movie being made of this when it's over.......

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Were they in the house drinking and snorting drugs together? I'm kind of confused if this was the case. The ex-wife of the accused said that her sister was afraid of this guy. If so, why would she let him in her home to "socialize?"

In any case, I think that they definitely have the right man.

nanandjim said:

Were they in the house drinking and snorting drugs together? I'm kind of confused if this was the case. The ex-wife of the accused said that her sister was afraid of this guy. If so, why would she let him in her home to "socialize?"

In any case, I think that they definitely have the right man.

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Maybe they had a little party after the murder took place.

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.

Two judges ordered separate gag orders in the past 18 months. The most recent one was imposed last month by Judge Terrance Duncan, who said the order was necessary to "keep control" of the proceedings and not prejudice potential jurors.

The first gag order, imposed by Judge Wendy Duffy before her appointment to the 6th District Court of Appeal, blocked an explanation as to why Managing Deputy District Attorney Ed Hazel dropped charges of murder and attempted rape against Tyquiengco in February and filed a new charge of murder during the commission of a rape. Hazel refused to discuss the new charge or what prompted it, citing the gag order.

Deputy Public Defender Juliet Peck called the prosecutor's new filing "absolutely unlawful" and said the charge was based on the results of forensics testing conducted on evidence by the defense. Peck was also blocked from further explanation.

At recent court hearings, there have been references to motions filed by both Hazel and Peck, but because of the gag order, neither attorney is allowed to discuss anything beyond what is stated on the record in court. Even more unusual, the case file has been held in judge's chambers for years, which means the media, despite repeated requests, have no access to it. In response to a request last week from The Monterey County Herald, Duncan said it could not be released until he reviews recent motions and his clerk removes sensitive documents.

http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/local/12499070.htm

After Mooren was stabbed to death at her Monterey home, it was five years before there was an arrest. Now, the defendant, William Tyquiengco, Mooren's brother-in-law, has been in jail for nearly as many years awaiting trial.

Technically, the trial itself began with jury selection nearly three weeks ago. But it will be at least several more days before a jury is seated and the courtroom theatrics begin.

It is a complex case that has had more than its share of twists and turns, many of them occurring outside the public eye. And it's a case that promises more.
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/local/12685165.htm

Murder defendant William Tyquiengco at first denied having an affair with victim Starr Mooren, the lead investigator in the case testified Thursday in Superior Court in Salinas.

Tyquiengco ''denied ever having any sort of sexual affair or intimate relationship with Starr,'' Monterey police detective Sgt. Leslie Sonné testified. "He said there was no reason for his DNA to be at the scene of the crime."
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/12901134.htm

A medical examiner for the city of St. Louis testified Friday that travel agent Starr Mooren was killed the same way her ex-boyfriend killed wild pigs.

Dr. Philip Burch's testimony was the most incriminating statement yet against Carl Jacobs, Mooren's former boyfriend and a local pig hunter. Jacobs is not on trial, but Juliet Peck, the attorney representing defendant William Tyquiengco, claims it was Jacobs, not Tyquiengco, who killed Mooren on Dec. 12, 1996.

Tyquiengco is on trial for the rape and murder of Mooren in her Monterey home.

Burch based his testimony on Monterey police records, Mooren's autopsy report and a police interview with Jacobs.

"The way that Starr Mooren was killed was exactly the way Mr. Jacobs described killing pigs," he said.

http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/13029996.htm

From June 2008:

http://www.montereyherald.com/general-news/20080610/mcmahon-duel-at-standstill

McMahon is fighting a decision made in July by the Monterey City Council that upheld his termination by former Police Chief Carlo Cudio for having an affair with the wife of a murder suspect. He says his civil rights were violated by the council and he is seeking permission to sue the city over alleged constitutional violations...

McMahon was once the lead investigator of the murder of Starr Mooren, and he was fired by Cudio in 2006 after it was revealed that in 2003 he had a romantic relationship with the victim's sister, Jodi Mooren, who was the wife of the suspected killer, William Tyquiengco.

A jury acquitted Tyquiengco in late 2005 after the affair was revealed at trial.

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