The main suspect in the murder of two Kingman residents could face trial later this year on unrelated robbery charges in Maricopa County.
El Mirage resident Daniel M. Avila, 25, was arrested in February on burglary charges in Tempe. Avila was in possession of a firearm at the time of his arrest, which Mojave County investigators said was linked to the June shootings of Kingman residents Darren Van Houten, 50, and Letta Atkins, 73. Atkins was a prominent member of the Kingman community and was known to many residents as the “Gold Lady”.
Seven months after Van Houten and Atkins were killed in a burglary in Kingman, Avila was charged with six counts of first-degree theft in Maricopa County. Attorney Jaycee Cotterell of the Phoenix-based Lerner & Row Legal Group filed an acquittal on behalf of Avila in March.
In May, Cotterell applied for a mental health examination for Avila, which was granted by a court. In a July 10 court filing, Maricopa Senior Judge Travis Marderossian ruled that Avila was competent to stand trial after being evaluated by two court-ordered psychologists.
Avila is currently scheduled to attend a court hearing in Phoenix on September 20. At that hearing, the court will set a date for the trial proceedings conference and jury selection.
When Avila was arrested in Tempe earlier this year, police body camera footage showed him wearing nearly identical clothing to those worn by the suspects in the Van Houten and Atkins murders.
Mojave County investigators said security footage from Van Houten and Atkins’ home showed blood on the suspect’s shoulder, likely from a gunshot wound sustained during the incident. At the time of her arrest in Tempe, law enforcement officials said Avila appeared to have a scar on her left shoulder consistent with a gunshot wound.
A Mojave High Court judge signed an arrest warrant for Avila in March on two counts of first-degree murder.
Even if Avila is eventually acquitted of the Maricopa County robbery charges, he will still have an arrest warrant in Mojave County. But if he is convicted in Maricopa County, it may be easy to try him in Mojave County.
Mojave County Attorney Matt Smith said this week, “If he is convicted of robbery, he can petition to be transferred to Mojave County for trial.” “If this motion is approved, it will require little effort on the part of the county. The Arizona Department of Corrections will bring him here.”
However, as of this week, Avila remains in custody at the Mojave County Jail on $100,000 bail.
