Man charged with Valley Village apartment killing pleads not guilty to 2 murder charges

The 27-year-old man accused of killing a Valley Village man who was found dead inside his apartment earlier this year pleaded not guilty to his murder and to the murder of another person in 2022.

Erick Escamilla is charged with two counts each of murder and first-degree residential burglary stemming from the April 23 stabbing of Menashe Hidra at his Valley Village apartment and for the Aug. 2, 2022, killing of Ok Ja Kim at her Woodland Hills home.

The killing of Hidra sparked fear in the Valley Village neighborhood as police conducted a week-long manhunt for a suspect after the 53-year-old was found dead inside his Riverside Drive apartment complex.

According to the Los Angeles Police Department, the suspect got into Hidra's apartment by first breaking into the neighboring vacant unit through a rooftop skylight, then climbing onto the victim's balcony.

Los Angeles County prosecutors said that Escamilla allegedly stabbed and killed Hidra with a screwdriver during the break-in. Escamilla was located at a local hospital, where he was receiving treatment, and was taken into custody on May 9 by FBI and LAPD investigators.

More than a month after his arrest, Escamilla was arrested for the 2022 Woodland Hills burglary and murder of 81-year-old Kim.

The murder charges include the special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and murder during the commission of a burglary, along with allegations that he used a "sharp object" in Kim's killing and a screwdriver in Hidra's killing and that he has a prior conviction from 2019 for burglary.

Escamilla is also facing one count of arson involving Kim's residence, along with one count each of attempted murder and first-degree residential burglary involving an alleged attack on a man three weeks after Kim's killing.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office is expected to decide later whether to seek the death penalty against Escamilla.