Oakland

Couple Charged in Vicious Killing of Alameda County Sheriff's Office Explorer

Court documents released Monday show a 23-year-old woman suspected of murdering a longtime Alameda County Sheriff's Office explorer confessed she had planned the killing for several days.

Laura Rodgers and her boyfriend, Curtys Taylor, were formally charged with murder on Monday in the vicious killing of 21-year-old Karla Ramirez-Segoviano.

"The fact they planned to kill this poor girl shows how much disdain and malice the suspects had toward Karla," Alameda County Sheriff's Office Sgt. JD Nelson said. "Hopefully when this case is finally adjudicated, a judge will have that same disdain for them during sentencing."

Ramirez-Segoviano's burned and stabbed body was found in a creek at the Arroyo Viejo Recreation Center in East Oakland just before noon on Thursday, police said.

Prosecutors said Taylor was fully aware of Rodgers' plan to kill Ramirez-Segoviano, and that he admitted to helping her by buying the gas used to ignite and burn Ramirez-Segoviano.

Court documents also said Rodgers lured Ramirez to the park. Once the assault was taking place, Taylor assisted with pouring the gasoline over Ramirez, according to court documents.

The couple tossed the evidence in a dumpster at a Hayward Days Inn, where police later recovered it, court documents said.

The motive for the slaying is still unclear and both suspects are being held without bail. Rodgers and Taylor are scheduled to return to court on Tuesday morning.

The Sheriff's Office filed a missing persons report for Ramirez-Segoviano on Wednesday. She was part of the department's Explorer Program, but was aged out when she turned 21 and was mentoring young participants, authorities said.

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