Convicted Killed Denied Parole For 1990 Murder Of Girlfriend
RIVERSIDE (CBS) — A former Riverside resident who strangled his live-in girlfriend and dumped her body in the Orange County part of the Cleveland National Forest about 20 years ago lost his latest bid at freedom, a prosecutor said Wednesday.
Kevin Frank Henriques, who is being held at Avenal State Prison, was denied parole on Tuesday night, said Orange County Deputy District Attorney Steve McGreevy.
It was Henriques' third try at parole, and he will not get another chance for five years, the prosecutor said.
Henriques, 40, was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison on March 19, 1993.
Henriques killed 20-year-old Theresa Cacho during an argument at Christmastime in 1990 in their Riverside home, McGreevy said. The young woman was reported missing on Dec. 22 of that year.
Henriques handcuffed her, stuffed socks wrapped in a plastic bag in her mouth and choked her to death, McGreevy said.
With help from his then-18-year-old roommate, Brian Davidson, Henriques wrapped the body in a blanket, put in in the trunk of his car and drove to a remote part of the Cleveland National Forest in Orange County, where the two rolled the body down a hill, McGreevy said.
Two hikers found the body in February 1991.
Davidson, who was convicted of being an accessory, testified against Henriques in his trial.
A jury found Henriques guilty of first-degree murder in February 1993, but a judge reduced the conviction to second-degree murder and sentenced him to 15 years to life in prison, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.
Henriques continues to deny he murdered Cacho, McGreevy said.
"He's still holding on to the story that she hit her head and it was an accident," McGreevy said. "But he says he's still responsible for her death."
(©2011 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
