Father of slain boy testifies in Strong murder trial
The father of a 6-year-old boy killed 12 years ago in the La Mesa Street murders took the stand Friday morning in the capital murder trial of Preston Strong, testifying about the events of what turned out to be the last day of his son’s young life.
On June 24, 2005, Adrienne Heredia, 30, was killed in her home at 2037 E. La Mesa Street, along with her four children — Andreas Crawford, 13, Enrique Bedoya, 12, Inez Newman, 9, and Danny Heredia III, 6. Heredia’s boyfriend, Luis Rios, 35, was also found shot in the back yard.
Strong, who is being represented by attorneys Raymond Hanna of Prescott and William Fox of the Yuma County Public Defender’s Office, is charged with six counts of first-degree murder, one count of armed robbery and one count of burglary.
In answering questions from prosecutor Karolyn Kaczorowski of the Yuma County Attorney’s Office, Danny Heredia said that he had picked up his son and Newman at Lil Sprouts Daycare the day before the murders and kept them overnight.
Heredia, who separated from Adrienne in late 2004, explained that he usually kept the two children until Saturday morning but had made arrangements with her to return them a day early, because he was going to an out-of-town car show that weekend.
After calling Adrienne several times on her cellphone without her answering, Heredia said eventually went to the residence to drop the children off. He added he thought it was about 6 p.m. and that he had left a message on her phone letting her know what he was doing.
When he got there, Heredia said he saw Adrienne’s car, a PT Cruiser, parked in the driveway. Thinking she was home, he said he knocked on the door several times but no one answered.
“The house was dark,” Heredia testified. “There wasn’t any lights on.”
Heredia said he waited in front of the house for a short time, eventually deciding to come back later. As they were leaving he said Rios drove by them in his Dodge Durango on his way home, so he turned around and went back.
“He parked in the driveway next to the PT Cruiser and I got his attention,” Heredia said. “I
told him that I had been trying to get a hold of Adrienne and had plans to drop the kids off. He said he hadn’t been able to get a hold of her either.”
After saying goodbye to each of the children, Heredia said he watched them go into the dark house through the same door that Rios had used. Once he got back to his truck, he said waited a few minutes, noting that the door stayed open and no lights ever came on.
“I tried calling Adrienne again to let her know I left the kids with Rios at the house and left her a message,” Heredia said.
Kaczorowski asked Heredia if he went to the house a second time, to which he testified that he had, to drop off some of the children’s clothing that he was washing.
Heredia testified that after he left the house, he went back to his apartment to finish the laundry and while he was there he received a phone call from Adrienne’s cellphone.
“It wasn’t Adrienne, it was Luis,” Heredia said. “He said Adrianne had been tripping. I thought it was weird.”
Once the laundry was done, Heredia went back to the house to drop off the children’s clothes, adding that there still weren’t any lights on inside and that both vehicles were in the driveway.
Heredia said he knocked several times at the front door again, but no one answered. He said he left the clothes by the front door and that he thought he saw a small light at the side door Rios and the children had used earlier, but did not knock.
Now a bit concerned, Heredia said he was sitting in his truck in front of the house when he received another call on Adrienne’s cellphone from Rios.
“He told me everything was fine,” Heredia said. “He sounded normal so I didn’t think anything was wrong.”
Afterward, Heredia said he went to a nearby Circle K, where he bought some beer, before heading to Kennedy Park to watch a team his company sponsors play softball.
While there, Heredia said he got a call from Adrianne’s brother saying something was going on at her house and that it was surrounded by police.
“He asked me if I still had the kids with me,” Heredia said. “I told him no, that I had dropped them off a while ago.”
Heredia said he rushed back to Adrianne’s house, but wasn’t able to get there because police had blocked the street off. He said no one would tell him what was happening and that while he waited there with Adrianne’s brother, they heard a loud bang.
“I figured police were going into the house,” Heredia said.
Eventually an officer came over to speak to him, Heredia said, and told him that they needed to get some information from him and asked if he would come to the station with them, which he did. He also gave them DNA samples while there.
James Gilbert can be reached at jgilbert@yumasun.com or 5396854. Find him on Facebook at www. Facebook.com/ysjamesgilbert.