Hearing delayed, new charges added for Brittany Killgore murder suspects

(CBS) SAN DIEGO - The preliminary hearing for three people charged in the slaying of Marine wife Brittany Killgore was postponed Tuesday to Dec. 3.

Jessica Lopez, 25, Dorothy Maraglino, 37, and Louis Perez, 46, are charged with the April death of 22-year-old Killgore. They appeared before the judge Tuesday at the Vista Superior Court and entered pleas of not guilty, The Fallbrook Village News reported.

At the December hearing, prosecutors will reveal the evidence against the suspects and a judge will decide whether the case is strong enough to try the trio before a jury.

Both prosecutors and defense attorneys asked the judge for the postponement because of "the large volume of discovery involved in the case" and the "need for further investigation" before the preliminary hearing, according to the Village News.

A prosecutor filed new paperwork Tuesday, making new allegations against three persons charged in the death of Kilgore, the San Diego Reader reported.

Deputy District Attorney Patrick Espinoza filed an amended complaint this morning that listed 42 "overt acts" in support of his new charges of criminal conspiracy to kidnap Killgore and then torture and sexually batter the woman before ultimately murdering her. The District Attorney's Office will announce whether to pursue the death penalty at the Dec. 3 hearing.

Prosecutors said Perez kidnapped Killgore after he picked her up for a dinner cruise on April 13, according to the San Diego Reader. He allegedly took her to Maraglino's home in Fallbrook, a short distance from Killgore's apartment, where he summoned Maraglino and Lopez to come over.

Then the three accused persons "acted out parts of fantasies that members of the conspiracy had previously communicated within the BDSM community which included kidnapping a woman off the street, taking the woman somewhere, playing with the woman and raping the woman," Espinoza wrote in the new paperwork.

The alleged attack included use of a stun baton and causing "incised wounds" and a ligature on the victim's neck, according to the prosecutor.

Killgore's body was found April 17 in a rural area east of Temecula, a week after she filed for divorce from her husband, a Marine who was fighting in Afghanistan. The husband was not suspected in her death.

Complete coverage of Brittany Killgore on Crimesider