CORTEZ, Colo.—A judge has ordered a man to stand trial on charges of beating his girlfriend to death after she evicted him from her Cortez apartment.
Ignacio “Michael” Ray Rael is charged with first-degree murder in the Oct. 4 death of Diane D. Cordova in her Cortez apartment.
Montezuma County District Judge Sharon Hansen on Monday ruled the evidence was sufficent to put the 47-year-old Rael on trial. Trial was scheduled for April 27.
Detective Jim Kingery testified the 53-year-old Cordova was beaten so badly she was almost unrecognizable.
Authorities say witnesses heard Rael threaten to kill Cordova.
Rael’s attorney says other witnesses have said another man, who had a domestic violence conviction, was in Cordova’s apartment the night she was killed.
———
Information from: Cortez Journal,
