Armando Cruz, 24, of Inglewood, entered pleas Tuesday to a dozen charges including murder, kidnapping, and rape in the July 2 death of Patricia Alatorre of Bakersfield.
Death Penalty on the Table
He could face the death penalty if convicted.
Cruz met the teenager on social media and he sent her an explicit photo while she sent him more than 20 nude images of herself and met him on two occasions, Bakersfield police alleged in court documents.
On the first occasion, Cruz drove from Los Angeles to Bakersfield, about 90 miles away, where he forced her to perform oral sex, police said.
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Set Girl’s Body on Fire
The second time they met, the girl didn’t want to go with him but he drove the girl away from their meeting place, forced her to perform oral sex and then raped the screaming girl and strangled her. He also performed more sex acts on her body before dousing it in lighter fluid and setting her on fire, police alleged.
Cruz was arrested Sunday after authorities located his pickup truck, which matched one the girl was seen entering before she vanished, authorities said.
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