A 63-year-old Los Angeles man pleaded not guilty Wednesday in the stabbing death of a woman whose nude body was found in an Azusa drainage ditch just over three decades ago.
Brian Walton is charged with murder for the February 1996 killing of Claudia Guevara, who was reported missing by her older brother after she was last seen at a bus stop in El Monte, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
The murder charge includes the special circumstance allegations of murder during the commission of a rape or attempted rape and murder during the commission of a sodomy or attempted sodomy, along with an allegation that a knife was used in the crime.
DNA evidence allegedly linked Walton to the 23-year-old Temple City woman, who had been sexually assaulted and stabbed in the neck, according to the District Attorney’s office.
Authorities said her body was found in a drainage ditch next to Encanto Parkway a day after she went missing after being dropped off at the bus stop by two co-workers on Feb. 20, 1996.
The District Attorney’s Office is expected to decide later whether to seek the death penalty against Walton.
Superior Court Judge Theresa McGonigle ordered the defendant to remain jailed without bail while awaiting his next appearance May 28 in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom. A date is scheduled to be set then for a hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence to allow the case against him to proceed to trial.
Walton has remained behind bars since he was arrested Feb. 5 by homicide detectives with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, jail records show.
“The victim’s family has waited for an agonizing 30 years to get that call to let them know their loved one’s killer had been found and charged,” District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement shortly after the case was filed against Walton. “While this was classified as a cold case, investigators and prosecutors never stopped in their relentless pursuit of justice, reaffirming our commitment to holding people accountable for the crimes they are accused of committing.”