No Bail In Cross-Dressing Murder

Three young men are being held without bail in Northern California in the murder of a cross-dressing 17-year-old boy. The body of Eddie Araujo of Newark was found in a shallow grave in El Dorado County. Police say one of the suspects led officers to the body.

A fourth man was arrested but not charged.

Police said Araujo showed up at the Oct. 3 house party as a girl named "Lida," and was assaulted and killed after the suspects learned he was a boy.

The defendants allegedly beat him nearly unconscious, then tightened a rope around his neck until he appeared to be dead. They then drove his body to a remote spot in the Sierra foothills and buried him, a police affidavit said.

"They're going to pay for what they did," said Araujo's aunt, Imelda Guerrero. "I hope everybody out there who sees this learns something from this, because he was a beautiful person inside and out."

Michael Magidson, 27, Jaron Nabors, 19, and Jose Merel, 24, appeared in court Friday on charges of murder with a hate-crime enhancement. They entered no pleas and were held without bail.

Nabors' lawyer, Robert J. Beles, said his client had no violence in his background.

"There's no bias in him," Beles said, nothing to indicate that Nabors "would actively participate in any type of homophobic activity."

Jose's brother Paul Merel Jr., 25, was arrested Wednesday but was not charged in the slaying, although he did face a parole violation. It wasn't immediately clear whether he had been released from jail. Prosecutors left court without commenting.

According to the affidavit, Paul Merel's girlfriend took Araujo into a bathroom at the Merels' house to settle the question of his gender, then announced he was a boy.

Jose Merel punched Araujo to the floor and Nabors and Magidson joined in, police said. Paul Merel said he was sleeping at the time, but his girlfriend woke him and insisted they flee.

He told police he saw Araujo on the floor with his skirt pulled up as they left, but knew nothing more. Police said the other three drove the body to the mountains.

He was reported missing by his mother when he didn't come home.

Araujo had been dressing like a girl "for some time," and had clashed with the suspects about a week before the Oct. 3 party, said Newark Police Lt. Tom Milner.

"We don't know if that's the prime factor in the altercation or if there were other factors involved such as revenge," Milner said. "These things are all definitely in play."

Police said Nabors confessed on Wednesday and led them to the body, buried about 150 miles east of Newark at a site that could only be reached by four-wheel drive vehicle.

"We're dealing with a number of people who could have helped, stepped in, prevented or reported this," said Lt. Lance Morrison. "None of them did."

Araujo identified himself as both a male and a female, sometimes going by the name Gwen, said Milner. His aunt said he was a fan of singer Gwen Stefani, but declined to comment on her nephew's cross-dressing.

In a recent family photo, Araujo had carefully groomed eyebrows and makeup and his hair was highlighted and cut into a shoulder-length bob.

Araujo had attended Newark schools from kindergarten, but as he grew older gradually stopped coming to class, said Newark Unified School District Superintendent Ken Sherer. He enrolled in an alternate program in which students meet with a teacher once a week and study independently.

He was liked by those who knew him, Sherer said.

"He was always smiling, he selected his friends very carefully and, according to some students, he did have more female friends than male," he said.

Daisy Bernal, a friend of Araujo, said he became upset when people referred to him as a boy.

"After I called her that, she just said, 'I'm a girl, I'm just a girl trapped in a guy's body. God made me like that,"' Bernal said.

Newark schools have been the subject of some controversy, with a planned performance of "The Laramie Project" next month at Newark Memorial High School.

The play tells the story of Matthew Shepard, an openly gay University of Wyoming student who was killed in October 1998. A Kansas fundamentalist preacher has promised to protest the play, but Sherer said the production will go on.

"We have a wonderful community and very diverse," Sherer said. "It's ironic that here we're doing the Laramie play and we have the same situation here in Newark."