A California convict due for release instead faces new charges for an murder that might have ties to Satanic worship.
Robert Marquez will be arraigned in Orange County Wednesday on charges he stabbed a missing teenager to death in 1998 and then intimidated five other acquaintances into keeping it a secret for nearly six years.
The Los Angeles Times said Sunday the witnesses told authorities Marquez, 26, practiced Satanism and murdered Bryan Thorne in the backyard of Marquez's home in Rowland Heights as part of a satanic ritual. The missing 16-year-old's body was allegedly dismembered and disposed of in a trash bin.
Marquez, a former high school football star, was due to be released in December after serving a sentence for extortion. The Times said the witnesses, who had been cowed into keeping quiet about Thorne's alleged killing, came forward because they feared they would be in danger once Marquez was released from prison.