PALM DESERT, Calif. (KNX) — A 59-year-old pool serviceman accused of killing a 93-year-old woman in Palm Desert pleaded not guilty to her murder on Thursday.
Benjamin Briones of Thousand Palms was arrested on Friday in Rancho Mirage and booked into jail without bail, according to records at the John Benoit Detention Center.
The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office filed felony counts each of murder, burglary, and forging a signature against Briones on Wednesday, who maintained his innocence during arraignment the following day.
The victim, Jean Grace Willrich, was found dead at her home in the 77000 block of Michigan Drive in Palm Desert after Riverside County sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of a suspicious death in November. Deputies found Willrich’s body with signs of trauma consistent with homicide, according to the sheriff’s department.
Willrich’s death marked the second suspected homicide in the neighborhood abutting the Palm Desert Country Club in the last month. Edward Snyder, 47, was found dead when deputies responded to reports of shots fired in the 43000 block of Tennessee Avenue on Nov. 11. Snyder was found dead in the street, also with signs of trauma suggesting homicide. No arrest has yet been made in Snyder’s case.
Related
