MORENO VALLEY, Cali. (Court TV) — Opening statements began Tuesday in the case against a California man accused of killing a childhood friend and hiding her body with the help of his older brother.
Owen Shover is pictured in court on Day 1 of his murder trial. (Court TV)
Owen Shover is charged with first-degree murder for the 2019 killing of 16-year-old Aranda Briones. In addition, he is charged with the special circumstance of lying in wait. Prosecutors say Owen killed Briones because she got him expelled for bringing a gun to school.
Owen’s brother, Gary Shover, initially faced the same charges, but those were dismissed and replaced with a felony allegation of being an accessory after the fact. In March, Gary agreed to a plea deal with the Riverside County District Attorney’s office and is now serving a one year sentence.
Briones was last seen on Jan. 13, 2019 in Moreno Valley Community Park. Authorities swiftly zeroed in on the Shover brothers as suspects, as Owen was the last person to see Briones alive. Owen and Briones, high schoolers at the time, had been friends.
L to R: Booking photos of Owen Shover and Gary Shover. (Riverside County Sheriff’s Office)
The brothers were taken into custody at their Hesperia home in Feb. 2019. Owen, who was 18 at the time, told investigators that he had dropped Briones off at the park, where someone picked her up in a sedan. Surveillance video, however, conflicted with Owen’s timeline. Owen is now 23. Gary, who was 21 at the time, is now 26.
In a search of the brothers’ backyard, investigators unearthed blankets and articles of clothing that pointed to Briones being the victim of a homicide. Detectives have yet to find her body.
Owen, who has pled not guilty, is currently being held without bail at the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta.
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