Jacquelyn Perea, 29, pleaded guilty Monday to a felony count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and misdemeanor marijuana-possession charge for the night she left 16-year-old Alicia Martinez at a Denver, Colorado house party where she was later murdered and dismembered.
Perea was a neighbor to 16-year-old Martinez’s mother. She took the teen to a house party at the home of Edward Romero, 27, on the night of Oct. 22, 2010. Perea knew that there would be alcohol and drugs present -- she even provided Martinez with marijuana that night, 7News reports.
Later that night Perea left without the teenaged Martinez who had passed out at Romero’s home - Martinez was never seen alive again. The next day, Perea reported Martinez missing and two days later Martinez body was found in Romero’s garage, prosecutors said to The Denver Post.
7News reports that 16-year-old Martinez was shot in the head twice, then cut to pieces after she was dead by Romero. Romero, with the help of his girlfriend, Francesca Pagliasotti, 25, then hid her body parts in garbage bags which were found stored in a plastic tub in Romero’s garage.
The Denver Post reports that after the vicious slaying of Martinez, Romero bizarrely offered to help her friends and relatives pass out fliers asking for help in finding the missing Martinez.
Martinez body was so mutilated when discovered by police that it had to be identified only through dental records, according to 9News.
Perea recieved a two-year probationary sentence for the marijuana count and two years of supervised deferred-judgement on the contributing felony count, meaning if she commits no further crimes the felony count will be wiped from her record, 9News reports. She has agreed to help with the prosecution of Romero.
Romero has pleaded not guilty of first degree murder by reason of insanity. He also faces two counts of possession of a weapon by a previous offender. His girlfriend, Pagliasotti, has pleaded not guilty to felony obstruction of justice for allegedly helping her boyfriend conceal the body. They both await trial.