By ROXANA HEGEMAN ~ Associated Press
GREAT BEND (AP) – A Kansas man has been found guilty of murder in the killing of a 14-year-old cheerleader whose charred body was found at the asphalt plant where he worked.
The jury deliberated for less than four hours before returning their verdict Friday in the case of 38-year-old Adam Longoria. The Great Bend man was charged with capital murder in the August 2010 death of Alicia DeBolt.
To convict him of capital murder, jurors had to determine Longoria committed criminal sodomy, aggravated criminal sodomy or attempted rape during the killing.
The teen disappeared the weekend before she was due to start her freshman year at high school. Text messages show she thought she was going to a party. Her remains were found three days later, burned beyond recognition.
This portion of the story by Matt Unruh ~ Great Bend Post
Prior to the jury reaching a verdict, both sides made their closing arguments
Kevin O’Connor with the Attorney General’s Office started off by quoting the first text message from Longoria’s phone to Debolt’s phone saying “good morning beautiful” on July 18th, 2010, saying that that ultimately led to the burned body being found at the Venture Asphalt plant a month later.
He reminded jurors that they had to find reasonable doubt to not convict Longoria, and not to check your common sense at the door. He pointed out the evidence that Longoria turned off his phone as soon as he presumably picked Debolt up. Her body was found at the Venture asphalt plant where Longoria worked. He said there was the evidence of the text messages, where Longoria pursued her and Debolt was trying to avoid him. He said Longoria asking for alibis, the disposal of his clothes, and the mixed DNA is all evidence.
Jeffery Wick with the defense made their closing statements. He pointed out the multiple text messages between Ivan Ramirez and Debolt’s phone, including when a text from Ramirez’s phone read “you look good without clothes.” Wicks also pointed out that by reading text messages, their relationship began to deteriorate. He pointed out that David Neely’s description of the vehicle that picked Debolt up that night was inconsistent with Eva Brown’s vehicle. Wicks said Longoria was not a contributor to the DNA found in Debolt’s mouth, and it would have been there had he forced her to perform oral sex on him. And he cited that Debolt’s best friend Marissa thought she was in the car with Ivan that night, and she heard the car door slam.
In O’Connor rebuttall, he stated that according to testimony, Debolt was no longer on the phone when she got in the car. He said many witnesses said they were with Ivan all night that night. He added that Neely identified Longoria’s car in court. He said James Newman the DNA expert said the stain in the car with Longoria and Debolt’s DNA was likely a recent stain. And the fire would have destroyed evidence of Longoria’s DNA in Debolt’s mouth. He added that Longoria’s text saying “I’m here” is strong evidence, and so was Longoria constantly telling people he was at Willy J’s.
Again, the jury found him guilty as charged.