MANHATTAN, Kan. – The capital murder trial of Luis Aguirre, accused of killing his ex-girlfriend and infant son, began on Monday inside Riley County District Court.
In his opening statement, Riley County Attorney Barry Wilkerson said that the state will attempt to prove that Aguirre premeditated the murders of 18-year old Tanya Maldonado and the couple’s 13-month old son Juan in the Fall of 2009.
The first man to the stand was Terry Lee Berrent, a 10-year Manhattan resident who first discovered the remains of Tanya and Juan in a shallow grave just east of Ogden, Kan., on Oct. 25, 2009.
Berrent testified that he saw a number of bones just off to the side of a dirt road located just north of S. 32nd St. Shortly after making the discovery, Berrent called 911 asking for assistance.
The next witness, Sgt. Troy Hensley of the Riley County Police Patrol Division, rehashed many of the points brought forth by Berrent. Hensley stated that many of the bones had been picked clean by animals, but noted that the hand attached to the what was later determined to be Tanya’s right arm was largely intact.
Detective Alan Riniker of the Riley County Police Criminal Investigation Division, reviewed the protocol his unit goes through when a homicide is reported. A tarp was placed over the crime scene for a 24-hour period before investigative units began exhuming the surrounding area. Once that process began on Oct. 26, 2009, an apendage was found not consistent with the rest of body. Riniker deduced that there was a second victim in the homicide.
Alan Maddux, who worked as a forensic biologist for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation for eight years, confirmed that the bodies discovered in a shallow grave were those of Tanya and Juan based on DNA evidence.
The link between Aguirre and Juan was reaffirmed by Dr. Karol Elias, who testified that based on paternity test results gathered at the PTC Lab in Columbia, Mo., there is a 99.998 percent chance that Aguirre is Juan’s biological father and a 99.998 percent chance that Tanya is Juan’s birth mother.
Judge Meryl Wilson adjourned shortly after 4 p.m.
The trial will resume Tuesday at 9 a.m.
