2 Charged With Murder of UCLA Student In Burning Apartment

LOS ANGELES – Police have arrested two 22-year-old men on suspicion of murder in the death of a University of California, Los Angeles, sorority member found dead in her burning apartment near campus, authorities said.

Forensic evidence and witness statements led to the weekend arrests of the two men, one of them a fellow student, in the killing of Andrea Delvesco, Los Angeles police said in a statement Monday.

Delvesco's body was found Sept. 21 by firefighters who extinguished the fire at her apartment in the Westwood neighborhood, police said. Authorities have not revealed whether she died in the fire or was killed before it started.

Alberto Medina, of Fresno, and Eric Marquez, of Westwood, were each being held in the Van Nuys jail on a murder charge. Marquez, who according to UCLA is a fifth-year undergraduate student, was being held on $1 million bail. Medina, who is unaffiliated with the university, was being held without bail.

Delvesco, 21, a native of Austin, Texas, was a senior majoring in psychology. The Pi Beta Phi sorority said Delvesco, known as "Andy," was one of its members.

There was a little more information released today by the DA - both suspects were charged with murder, both pled not guilty. She was stabbed to death..

September 29, 2015: Two Charged with UCLA Sorority Student’s Slaying
Two men were charged today with the murder of a 21-year-old UCLA student whose body was found after a fire at her Westwood apartment last week, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced.
Alberto Hinojosa Medina (dob 9/15/93) and Eric Marquez (dob 5/12/93) are scheduled to be arraigned after 2 p.m. today in Department W30 at the Airport Branch of the Los Angeles County Superior Court. They are charged in case SA091348.
Deputy District Attorney Victor Avila with the Major Crimes Division is prosecuting the case.
Medina, of Fresno, is charged with burglarizing an apartment in the 10900 block of Roebling Street on Sept. 21 and then entering a second apartment where he allegedly fatally stabbed Andrea Del Vesco and set her apartment on fire before fleeing.
He is charged with one count of capital murder with the special circumstance of murder during a burglary and a special allegation that he personally used a knife; one count of arson of a dwelling; and two counts of first-degree burglary.
Marquez, a student at UCLA, is charged with one count of murder and two counts of first-degree burglary.
Del Vesco’s body was discovered by firefighters inside her apartment. She was a fourth-year UCLA student from Austin, Texas, and a member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority.
Prosecutors will ask that Medina be held without bail and that bail for Marquez be set at $1.1 million.
The special circumstance makes Medina eligible for the death penalty. Prosecutors will decide later whether to seek death.
The case remains under investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division.

Saw an Austin-based story about this and the angle "oh, pretty young college student, cheerful, giving, everybody's friend..." and then you get to this sentence buried deep in the story:

In July, Delvesco pleaded not guilty to possession of several drugs including LSD and ecstasy. She was free on her own recognizance and had a court date scheduled for next week, City News Service reported.

I believe the other story said *many* drugs.

The media wants you to think this pretty young thing was the victim of some horrible crime that she didn't do anything to deserve but, between the lines, it's easy to see the real story.

Andy was a drug pusher.

She got arrested and was going to trial.

Her dealers did not want to be ratted out and these drug cartels are completely ruthless when it comes to protection. They had her killed and then burned down her apartment to destroy the evidence.

I have no idea if the two men arrested are guilty or not. Maybe the cops already had the names they needed and these were the two or maybe these are just ex-boyfriends who had no connection with the drug trade whatsoever.

But the moral of the story is to tell your girls to keep their pretty asses away from drugs - period. The media is going to tell the wrong story because they want the women afraid just to walk on a sidewalk. I'm betting the girl got mixed up with some nasty stuff, probably thought her smile and her naivete would insulate her from the real world and they didn't.

...scheduled for trial. Looks like her sentence came early.

There is some more info from the press conference today. It sounds more like two thugs on a robbery and burglary spree, but maybe she was known to them. This is from the Daily Bruin today:

The prosecutor, Victor Avila, alleged the men, who were high school friends, were also responsible for two robberies that occurred on Roebling Avenue on Sept. 21, between 2 a.m. and 7 a.m.
A witness saw a red car – later identified as Medina’s – pass the block between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m., around the time of the second burglary, Avila said. The witness also reported seeing Marquez in the backseat of the car, which Avila said he believes was used as the getaway vehicle.
Avila also added property from both the apartments, including a laptop and stereo system from the first burglary and some property from DelVesco’s apartment, was found in Medina’s Fresno residence.
Surveillance footage revealed both Medina and Marquez entered Marquez’s apartment on Strathmore Drive about 10 minutes after the murder, Avila added.
The footage also showed Marquez helped Medina cover his bloodied clothing with DelVesco’s blanket, Avila said.

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