Ex-Marine Turned Murderer Headed for Trial

Andrew Uridales will stand trial for the murder of five Southern California women

A former Camp Pendleton Marine turned convicted murderer will travel from Illinois’ death row back to California to stand trial for the deaths of five women, including San Diegan Maryann Wells

Prosecutors in Southern California believe Andrew Urdiales shot and killed Wells, 31, in downtown San Diego in 1988. Wells, a prostitute, was found murdered on Second Avenue.

Orange County prosecutors said Tuesday that 47-year-old Andrew Urdiales will arrive Thursday to be prosecuted in the cases from Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties that stretch from 1986 to 1995.

Prosecutors say Urdiales killed four of the Southern California women while stationed at various military facilities in the region.

He is accused of killing the fifth woman while on vacation in Palm Springs in 1995, and was arrested the following year in Indiana.

Prosecutors had to wait to transport Uridales to California until after the evidentiary portion of his death penalty appeal concluded in Illinois.

Urdiales was convicted in Illinois for killing two women in 2002 and another in 2004.

Uridales allegedly confessed to the murders in 1987, while he was being prosecuted for three slayings in Chicago.

Orange County will prosecute all five cases in a consolidated proceeding.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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