LINCOLN, Neb.—A 15-year-old accused of killing her mother and half-sister in May was scheduled to go to trial on Monday, appearing across the state from the scene of the grisly crime.
Alisha Ochoa’s boyfriend, Michael Grandon, is expected to testify against her. He has already pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and aiding a first-degree murder, and agreed to testify in hopes of avoiding the death penalty. Ochoa is being tried as an adult.
The trial was delayed and moved to Lancaster County District Court after a judge in Lincoln County ruled that pretrial publicity may have tainted the jury pool there. Juror questionnaires showed many potential jurors had already decided the girl’s fate.
Police say 38-year-old Lori Solie was beaten with a baseball bat and her daughter, 5-year-old Tiara Solie, was stabbed several times.
A neighbor intending to ask about a barking dog found Solie’s body in the kitchen of her apartment on May 17.
Police investigating into the night issued an all-points bulletin for Grandon and Ochoa.
The teens fled North Platte in Solie’s black 2006 Ford Mustang and led police on a 67-mile chase in Wyoming.
In an affidavit filed in support of the charges, Wyoming State Trooper Jason Caudill said the Mustang was spotted traveling 125 mph Friday morning on Interstate 80 between Rawlins and Rock Springs.
Grandon managed to swerve around one police road block in Solie’s stolen Mustang before crashing into Caudill’s patrol car at a second one.
Caudill said the Mustang swerved between lanes at speeds well over 100 mph as it approached the tire puncture sticks he had laid in the road.
The Mustang smashed into a guard rail as part of an attempt to avoid the hazard before driving over the puncture sticks, Caudill said. Then Grandon lost control of the Mustang and crashed.
Ochoa and Grandon were arrested at gunpoint after the crash.
As the investigation continued to unfold, authorities said they recovered the knife and baseball bat connected with the case along Interstate 80 near North Platte.
———
Information from: The North Platte Telegraph,
