*CRIMINAL CASE UPDATE*

CLOSING ARGUMENTS SCHEDULED IN TRIAL OF TWO TEEN GIRLS CHARGED WITH MURDERING WOMAN DURING CARJACKING

MURRIETA - Closing arguments are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday for two teenage girls charged with murdering a Lake Elsinore woman so they could steal her car and go to Knott's Berry Farm.

Jurors tasked with deciding the fate of Dayana Cordova, 18, of Lake Elsinore will hear closing arguments on July 29, 2009, while a second jury will hear closing arguments in the trial of co-defendant Anna Alejandra Salinas, 17, of Perris on the following day. Closing arguments are scheduled to begin at 9:15 a.m. each day.

The teens are charged with the Oct. 17, 2007, murder of 20-year-old Angelina Arias. Cordova was not an adult when the murder happened but both teens are being tried as adults. Each defendant has been charged with murder, carjacking, kidnapping and child endangerment.

The evidence shows that Arias was shot inside her Chrysler 300 while her infant daughter sat in a nearby child car seat. The child was later found safe on a front porch in Perris.

Investigators found that, on the night of the murder, the two girls had been at a Lake Elsinore restaurant where the victim worked as a waitress. Arias kindly offered to give the girls a ride home before being shot twice, pushed out of her car and left for dead as the girls drove off with the baby still in the car.

The gun used to kill the victim belonged to Cordova's father and was loaded by Cordova before she took it from the house, the evidence shows. Salinas is charged with firing the fatal shots.

The trial is being held in front of Judge F. Paul Dickerson in Dept. S304 at the Southwest Justice Center, 30755-D Auld Road, Murrieta.

The case, SWF023165, is being prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Daniel DeLimon.