Prosecutors said Torrez not only killed Snell but also murdered Krystal Tobias, 9, and Laura Hobbs, 8, in his hometown of Zion when he was 16.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Amanda J. Snell
Jorge A. Torrez
Ex-marine accused of killing Navy sailor
A former Marine has been indicted in the 2009 death of a Navy sailor who was found slain in her Fort Myers-Henderson Hall barracks.
Jorge A. Torrez, 22, is charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of Amanda J. Snell, a 20-year-old petty officer second class found dead in her room on July 13, 2009.
The charge against Torrez, a former Marine corporal convicted in two other Arlington assaults and suspected of killing two young girls in Illinois, makes him eligible for the death penalty. Peter Carr, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, said no decision had been made on whether to seek a death sentence.
The Washington Examiner first reported in March that Torrez was suspected in Snell's death.
Snell's mother, Cynthia Snell, said Thursday that the charges bring some relief, but she still longs for closure.
"I'm waiting until this is all over and I actually find out why," she told The Examiner.
Torrez, who also goes by George, was convicted in Arlington County in October of abducting and raping one woman and robbing another in separate attacks. Those assaults also took place while he was stationed at Henderson Hall.
He is also linked through DNA evidence to the May 2005 slayings of two girls, ages 8 and 9, in Zion, Ill., where he used to live. One girl's father spent five years in jail awaiting trial in the case before charges were dropped when the DNA match to Torrez came to light through a national database last summer. Torrez has not been charged in Illinois.
Snell was killed on July 11, 2009, according to prosecutors, two days before her body was found.
Military officials have refused to release details about the circumstances of her death.
The indictment also gives no description of the slaying. It only says that Torrez killed Snell "with premeditation and malice."
Cynthia Snell said she would support the death penalty for Torrez if he is convicted.
"I want him punished if he is guilty to the fullest extent of the law," she said.
Neil MacBride, the U.S. attorney for Eastern Virginia, said in a statement that the charges are the result of police following "every lead possible to bring the person responsible for Amanda's murder to justice."
Torrez is scheduled to be arraigned June 3.
He is incarcerated at Red Onion State Prison in southwest Virginia, where he is serving five life sentences in the Arlington attacks.
Jason Rucker, Torrez's attorney in the Arlington cases, declined to comment on the murder indictment.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/...#ixzz1NVbEpOOr
Bookmarks