GREELEY — Witnesses testifying in Weld County court on Thursday gave conflicting descriptions of the intimate relationship between Kayleah Wilson and Robert Laurencio Montoya, the 18-year-old man accused of sexually assaulting her in the months before her body was found in a Greeley irrigation ditch.
April Wilson, the mother of 12-year-old Kayleah, said Montoya told her that he had sex with her daughter only once, around Christmas 2009. Wilson said she confronted both Kayleah and Montoya, who was living with the Wilsons in their Greeley apartment, in early January.
“I ended it between the two,” April Wilson said. “I kicked him out.”
But Greeley police Detective Christian Morgan said Montoya told him the couple frequently had sex long after Montoya turned 18 on Jan. 18.
Montoya “had sex with Kayleah on a regular basis, whenever they were alone, most of the time at his residence,” Morgan said.
At the end of the preliminary hearing, Weld County District Judge Marcelo Kopcow said there was enough evidence against Montoya to force him to stand trial in November on charges of sexual assault of a child and sexual assault with a pattern of abuse.
Montoya was arrested May 19 for the alleged sexual assault on Kayleah, just hours after her badly decomposed body was found in an irrigation ditch near Sunset Memorial Cemetery.
He had been considered a person of interest since Kayleah disappeared March 28 as she walked from her family’s apartment near the Greeley Mall to a birthday party not far away.
He was charged after police investigating the disappearance learned there had been sexual contact between him and Kayleah.
Public defender Kevin Strobel argued Thursday that Montoya had sex with Kayleah once, nearly a month before his 18th birthday, and should not be charged as an adult. Strobel asked that Montoya be tried in juvenile court.
Prosecutor Tony Perea argued that Montoya told investigators he and Kayleah had sexual intercourse up until Feb. 12.
“The first act was Jan. 1, 2010, at Kayleah’s apartment, and then it was on a regular basis, usually at his place,” Perea said.
Kopcow agreed with the defense that the testimony regarding the timeline was shaky. But given the “low standard” for evidence in preliminary hearings, there was enough to bind Montoya over for trial.
Montoya began staying with the Wilsons — mostly over the weekends — in October because he and Kayleah’s brother were friends, April Wilson said. But around Christmas, she grew suspicious that Montoya and Kayleah were having sex. “I just had a gut feeling,” she said.
Kayleah and Montoya confirmed they were having sex during a Jan. 10 sit-down at the Wilson apartment, and Montoya was kicked out.
“I told him I did not want him near my house,” April Wilson said.
In testimony Thursday, it was revealed that Kayleah’s autopsy indicated she was not pregnant. However, her body was badly deteriorated and an early pregnancy might not have been detected, Morgan said.
Medical investigators also found no DNA from Montoya on the girl’s body, Morgan said.
A lack of physical evidence against Montoya — along with his alibi that he was with his family the day Kayleah disappeared — indicates he had no connection to Kayleah’s death, said Strobel, who asked that Montoya’s $100,000 bail be dropped.
But Kopcow declined the request, and Montoya remains in the Weld County Jail.
Strobel indicated he also will request that Montoya be given a mental examination related to his “IQ level.” Montoya, Strobel said, does not “necessarily have an accurate memory to be relied upon.”
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com
