HOMESTEAD, Fla. – A woman arrested in the planned slaying of a 17-year-old boy in Homestead pleaded not guilty Monday.
Desiray Strickland, 18, faces a first-degree murder charge in the death of Jose Santos Amaya Guardado, as well as charges of battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest with violence and criminal mischief.
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The state is expected to seek the death penalty in the case.
Kaheem Arbelo, 20, Christian Colon, 19, and Jonathan Lucas, 19, have also been charged in the killing.
According to a police report, the suspects and victim were students at the Homestead Job Corps center, a live-in school and vocational program. Police said the three men admitted to plotting the murder with Strickland.
All four suspects are being held in jail without bond.
Detectives said the suspects dug a hole in the woods two weeks before they killed Guardado on June 28 and buried him.
According to the report, Arbelo used a machete to slash Guardado after the group lured him into the woods and ambushed him.
Police said Arbelo's friends watched him kill Guardado, and said Strickland complained that she missed part of the attack because she left for a few minutes to urinate in the woods.
According to the report, as the victim was dying, he was instructed to lie in the grave. Police said Guardado made a final attempt to fight off Arbelo, but was struck by the machete multiple times until his face caved in.
According to the report, the suspects got rid of the shovel and murder weapon and attempted to burn their clothes and Guardado's belongings after the attack occurred.
Police said Strickland and Arbelo had sex in the woods until it was time for them to return to campus at the Job Corps.
Fall classes have since been suspended at the school. A spokesman confirmed Friday that the Homestead Job Corps' summer break has been extended until at least Sept. 9, and 17 students who had been staying at the school over the summer have been moved to another Job Corps center.
Guardado's body was found by his brother on July 1.
The medical examiner determined the victim's cause of death to be trauma and ruled the death a homicide.
A motive for the attack remains unclear, but a police source said the victim had been bullied before by the group and that Guardado may have owed Arbelo money.
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