GREELEY — Everyone agreed that Robert Montoya had sex with 12-year-old Kayleah Wilson. The question for jurors in his sex-assault trial this week was: When?
Dates and timelines were a key issue in the trial of Montoya, now 19, whom the jury of seven men and five women convicted Friday on two counts of sexual assault, one involving a pattern of abuse.
“The question was, when was he guilty?” said alternate juror Debra Haglund, 40, of Greeley. “I thought the lawyers did a good job of helping us center on that.”
Montoya’s defense attorney claimed the relationship had stopped before he turned 18 — and that all the sex occurred while he was still a juvenile.
Police learned of the relationship between Kayleah and Montoya while investigating her disappearance on March 28, 2010. Her body was found May 19 in an irrigation ditch in west Greeley; Montoya was arrested that day for two counts of sexual assault. While police had focused on him as a potential suspect in her death, they’ve never publicly named him as such. The investigation is ongoing.
After the verdict on Friday, Weld District Attorney Ken Buck addressed the question of finding the killer:
“The investigation continues, and we’re not comfortable charging a murder case at this point,” Buck said.
Deputy District Attorney Hollie Wilkinson said Montoya took advantage of Kayleah because of her age.
“Playing tag, coloring, hiding in the closet, scaring each other, making bead necklaces, and putting makeup on, these are all things a 12-year-old should be doing,” Wilkinson told the jury. “That list does not include having sex with an adult.
“That’s the exact path this defendant plotted with Kayleah. Less than one month after she turned 12, this defendant pursued a relationship with Kayleah. This defendant preyed upon a child, an impressionable 12-year-old,” Wilkinson said.
Robert Montoya will be sentenced at 11 a.m. June 3 in Weld District Court.
He faces a sentence of eight years to life in prison.
