Man Found Guilty of Killing Schoolmate and Hiding Body in San Bernardino Mountains

Man Found Guilty of Killing Schoolmate and Hiding Body in San Bernardino Mountains
Image By: San Bernardino Sun

On Wednesday, a man was convicted of first-degree murder after killing a Morena Valley 16-year-old girl because she had caused him to be expelled from school. After that, he concealed her body in the San Bernardino Mountains.

Following just over a day of deliberations, a Riverside jury issued a verdict against Owen Skyler Shover, 23, of Hesperia, finding true a special circumstance charge of lying in wait for Aranda Briones’s death in 2019.

Shover, who is being detained in the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta without being granted bail, is facing a mandatory life term without the chance of release.

In March, his brother Gary Anthony Shover, 27, of Hesperia, entered into a plea deal with the District Attorney’s Office, acknowledging that he was an accessory after the fact. He received a 12-month felony probationary sentence.

As to the trial brief of District Attorney Mike Hestrin, in the autumn of 2017, Aranda and Shover were students at Moreno Valley High School.

Hestrin stated that instead of going to class on November 7, 2017, Aranda chose to spend the morning with her friends—including Shover—in Community Park. The teens took off running in different directions when a sheriff’s office hunting for truants discovered them in the park and approached them to talk.

According to court documents, Shover threw a small-caliber handgun at Aranda while shouting for her to hide it.

The victim instantly flung it into a drainage channel after becoming afraid. She revealed that Shover had been the one holding the pistol, though, after the deputy caught her in the act and later arrested and questioned her alongside school administrators, according to Hestrin.

When the local school board heard the issue in February 2018, the members decided to remove Aranda and Shover. While Shover moved out of his mother’s Moreno Valley home and into his father’s home, enrolling at a Hesperia continuing school, she went to a nearby continuation school. However, he was furious over being banished and what he clearly saw to be Aranda’s betrayal.

The brief stated that from November 2018 to January 2019, the defendant sought to purchase a firearm in a number of discussions that he started on Facebook, Snapchat, and other platforms, which were later found by Sheriff’s Central Homicide Unit detectives. In the end, he got one.

Shover texted Aranda on January 12, 2019, urging her to come work with him the next day as he delivered drugs and “robs drug dealers,” according to the brief. On January 13, 2019, she accepted his invitation to meet at Bayside Park, and the two got in touch just before 5:00 p.m.

Hestrin claimed that Aranda got into the defendant’s Nissan Versa and they drove north toward Box Springs Mountain as two of her companions watched.

Within an hour, she shared many photos of herself and Shover in his vehicle on social media, expressing her happiness to be with her “homie,” who was letting her drive part of the time, according to the brief.

The Nissan’s occupants were traced around Box Springs Mountain for around twenty minutes using mobile phone tower “pings,” Moreno Valley’s Citywide Camera System, and security cameras installed outside nearby residences.

According to court documents, the car turned north into a mobile home park in San Bernardino just before six o’clock in the evening.

After the defendant picked Gary Shover up from the park, the two took state Routes 138 and 18 north into the San Bernardino Mountains. The defendant turned off his cell phone between 8:33 and 10:14 p.m., rendering its signal illegible. Prosecutors alleged that once he arrived at his father’s house at 16210 Grevillea St., it reactivated.

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Hestrin highlighted a noteworthy aspect of the investigation, which involved searching the Nissan and using the blood detector Luminol inside the trunk. The results indicated “the possible presence of a significant amount of blood that had pooled toward the bottom of the trunk, underneath the carpeting.”

After DNA was taken from the car, he said it was eventually found to match Aranda.

There has never been a sign of Aranda, despite searches by law enforcement and volunteer groups in the highlands where they think her bones may have been disposed of.

Judge Timothy Hollenhorst of the Riverside County Superior Court set a sentencing hearing for October 25 at the Riverside Hall of Justice.

Reference

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With more than two years of expertise in news and analysis, Eileen Stewart is a seasoned reporter. Eileen is a respected voice in this field, well-known for her sharp reporting and insightful analysis. Her writing covers a wide range of subjects, from politics to culture and more.