DA Filing Capital Crimes Charges Against Mikilo Rawls, Suspect In Emma Roark Murder
RANCHO CORDOVA (CBS13) — The man suspected of killing Rancho Cordova woman Emma Roark is being charged with murder along with several special circumstances, the district attorney's office announced on Monday.
Mikilo Rawls, 37, has been charged with murder, kidnap, rape, sodomy, and an allegation that Roark was bound or tied during the assault. Rawls was also previously convicted of first-degree burglary in an earlier case, prosecutors say.
"The facts of this case are so horrendous," explained UC Hastings Law Professor John Myers.
In court records family describes Roark as having high functioning autism and said she did not pick up on social cues.
With the charges, the DA's office says the proceedings will now be a capital case.
"The circumstances of this murder are horrific, and our sympathies go out to Emma Roark's family," said District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert in a statement on Monday.
Detectives say they were able to identify Rawls as the suspect with evidence processed at the secluded rural area at the American River access point on El Manto Drive scene where Roark's body was found.
A capital case means that Rawls could be eligible to be given the death penalty if convicted.
However, no inmate in California who has been sentenced to death has been executed since 2006. With Gov. Gavin Newsom placing a moratorium on executions, the state has also started dismantling its death row.
"A lot of us feel like 'How are we going to make it to the next day?' " explained Barbra Ramirez
It's been 16 years since Ramirez's 18-year-old son James was murdered in front of her Land Park house.
"I don't want anyone to forget," said Ramirez.
The men responsible are serving a 1,000-year sentence. Ramirez is the o-chair of the Sacramento Chapter of Parents of Murdered Children and spends her time helping other families going through the same pain.
Ramirez is glad to hear Schubert is making the death penalty or life in prison a possibility in the homicide case of Roark.
"After you realize that this is your hell now that you are facing, you want to do as much as you can to get that person off the street and you are thinking 'I don't want this to happen to another parent,' " Ramirez explained.
Rawls is expected to make an appearance in court on Tuesday.