Montoya Found Guilty In Kayleah Wilson Case
GREELEY, Colo. (CBS4) - A 19-year-old has been convicted of sexual assault for having sex with a 12-year-old Greeley girl who disappeared a year ago and then was found dead.
The jury returned the verdict against Robert Montoya on Friday after Montoya's defense team chose not to put any witnesses on the stand and went straight to closing arguments.
Montoya is accused of having sex with Kayleah Wilson, his friend's younger sister, when he was an adult. Wilson disappeared in March 2010 and her body was found in a drainage ditch in Greeley nearly two months after she was reported missing.
For prosecutors, the challenge was to convince jurors that Montoya and Wilson actually had sex after Montoya turned 18 and before she disappeared 3 weeks later.
One alternate juror told CBS4 that was a difficult thing to prove, but ultimately the jury convicted Montoya on the charge of "sexual assault with a child, an ongoing pattern of abuse."
The girl's slaying remains unsolved. Montoya remains a person of interest in the actual murder case.
"We're not comfortable charging the murder case right at this point," District Attorney Ken Buck told CBS4.
Montoya faces 8 years to life in prison when's he sentenced for the sex assault on June 3.
