GREELEY — A key figure in the puzzle surrounding the disappearance and death of 12-year-old Kayleah Wilson faces trial today in Weld County District Court.
Robert Laurencio Montoya, 19, will be fighting allegations he sexually assaulted Wilson before she vanished last March 28 while on her way to a birthday party near the Greeley Mall.
Kayleah’s body was found May 19 in a Greeley irrigation ditch after a two- month search by police and the FBI. Police say she was killed and her body dumped in the water.
Montoya is not a suspect, but he is still considered a person of interest in Kayleah’s murder, said Greeley police spokesman Joe Tymkowych.
At a pretrial hearing on the sexual- assault charges, defense attorney Kevin Strobel said there was no physical evidence linking Montoya to Kayleah’s killing. Montoya also was with his family the day she disappeared, Strobel said.
The investigation of Kayleah’s murder is continuing, Tymkowych said.
“We have detectives assigned to the case, working on leads that need to be followed,” he said. “And it will remain that way until we have something a little more substantial we can look at.”
The search for Kayleah drew national attention as scores of volunteers fanned out over Greeley and the surrounding area looking for her.
The case also drew tips, including some from psychics. Every call, no matter how suspect, concerning Kayleah’s whereabouts was checked out, Tymkowych said.
“Some were way off base,” he said. “We had some saying her body was buried somewhere in Montana, and another said she was being held against her will in Texas.”
During the course of their investigation of the child’s murder, Montoya was interviewed 13 times, during which, police said, they discovered evidence he sexually assaulted her.
Montoya, then 17, had lived with Kayleah’s family for a few months in 2009. But when April Wilson — Kayleah’s mother — found out the two were having sex, she has said, she kicked Montoya out.
During testimony at last year’s preliminary hearing in the sexual-assault case, witnesses gave conflicting accounts of when the sexual activity occurred.
April Wilson testified Montoya told her he had sex with her daughter once, around Christmas 2009.
A Greeley police investigator testified Montoya told him the couple frequently had sex long after Montoya turned 18 on Jan. 18, 2010.
Montoya has problems remembering timelines, and he should be tried as a juvenile, Strobel has argued. He has also argued that Montoya’s admissions were coerced during a heated and drawn-out murder investigation.
Montoya remains in Weld County Jail on $100,000 bail. His trial is scheduled to last a week.
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com
