{"id":87944,"date":"2019-05-31T14:19:30","date_gmt":"2019-05-31T21:19:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=87944"},"modified":"2019-05-31T14:20:50","modified_gmt":"2019-05-31T21:20:50","slug":"man-sentenced-for-killing-woman-found-in-gorman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2019\/05\/31\/man-sentenced-for-killing-woman-found-in-gorman\/","title":{"rendered":"Man sentenced for killing woman found in Gorman"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Victim Kimberly Harvill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LOS ANGELES – A man was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for murdering a woman who prosecutors said was killed and dumped in a desolate area near state Route 138 in Gorman because she was a witness to a shooting.<\/p>\n

Alex Richard Valdez<\/strong>, 31, was convicted Feb. 6 of first-degree murder for the shooting death of 26-year-old Kimberly Harvill.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jurors also found true the special circumstance allegation of killing a witness.<\/p>\n

A second defendant, Joshua Aaron Robertson<\/strong>, 29, pleaded no contest Jan. 18 to one count each of first-degree murder, possession of a flammable device, and possession of a firearm by a felon, along with three counts of kidnapping and two unrelated arson charges.<\/p>\n

He was immediately sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole following his plea.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said Harvill was killed because she was a witness to a shooting in the Fresno area involving the two men that occurred days before she was murdered.<\/p>\n

Harvill’s body was discovered in some brush near a shopping cart on Gorman Post Road in August 2016, Los Angeles County sheriff’s Sgt. Ken Perry told jurors in Valdez’s trial.<\/p>\n

Robertson and his then-girlfriend, Brittney Sue Humphrey<\/strong>, who was Harvill’s half-sister, subsequently kidnapped Harvill’s three children, then 2, 3 and 5 years old.<\/p>\n

The children were found safe in August 2016 in a motel outside Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the care of a good Samaritan who notified law enforcement. Robertson and Humphrey were arrested the following day in Pueblo, Colorado, and were subsequently charged with Harvill’s murder.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors subsequently filed an amended complaint charging Robertson and Valdez with Harvill’s killing, saying they did not believe they had enough evidence to proceed with a murder case against her half-sister.<\/p>\n

Humphrey, then 23, pleaded no contest in 2017 to kidnapping her half- sister’s three children and was sentenced to 13 years in state prison.<\/p>\n

Previous related stories:<\/p>\n

Man convicted of killing woman found in northern L.A. County<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Man pleads no contest in woman\u2019s killing<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Woman pleads to kidnapping children of slain mother<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Arraignment postponed for couple in stepsister\u2019s killing<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Stepsister, man charged in woman\u2019s killing<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Suspects arrested in kidnapping-homicide<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Body ID\u2019d, two suspects wanted for questioning<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Public\u2019s help needed to identify female body found in Gorman<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES – A man was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for murdering a woman who prosecutors said was killed and dumped in a desolate area near state Route 138 in Gorman because she was a witness to a shooting. Alex Richard Valdez, 31, was convicted Feb. 6 of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":85620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[719,1499],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87944"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}