Tahoe kids’ club worker arraigned in knifing death of girl

Tuesday, March 21, 2000 | 4:54 a.m.

Justice of the Peace Steve McMorris arraigned Thomas Robert Soria Jr., 19, on charges of kidnapping and using a knife or other sharp object to kill Krystal Steadman.

The child's nude body was found Monday down a highway embankment.

Prosecutors could file additional charges later, based on results of an autopsy that will determine exact cause of death and whether the girl was sexually assaulted.

The judge named two public defenders to represent Soria, who could face the death penalty, and set a preliminary hearing for April 25. A March 29 hearing in advance of the preliminary also was set.

Soria, in leg chains, showed no emotion as the charges were read and as McMorris ordered him held without bail.

Soria was arrested a few hours after the victim's body was found about 25 miles from this Tahoe resort community.

Authorities said Steadman had been seen Sunday standing on the running board of Soria's vehicle outside the Lake Park apartments, where her mother, from nearby South Lake Tahoe, Calif., was visiting a friend.

Family members said the girl had been checking in regularly with her mother, who had told her to stay out only a few more minutes because they were going to eat dinner.

When her daughter didn't return, the mother went outside,found her jacket and called police.

Douglas County Sheriff Ron Pierini described Soria as a part-time worker at a satellite branch of the Lake Tahoe Boys and Girls Club. The club is in the apartment complex that mainly houses casino workers for the resorts that straddle the nearby California-Nevada line at Lake Tahoe.

Soria has no previous criminal record other than a bad check charge.

Pierini also said the girl was playing in the parking lot of the apartment complex with two other girls, but they left.

About two hours after the victim disappeared, a motorist saw a man acting suspiciously near a vehicle stopped along U.S. 50, a few miles from Carson City. The motorist then called police, who began searching the area.