Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Hearing delayed for teens accused in choir teacher’s death

The preliminary hearing for Jose Delatorre and Juan Aguirre, which was scheduled for Jan. 21, has been postponed until 9:30 a.m. on Feb. 11 in Henderson Justice Court.

Aguirre’s lawyer, Deputy Special Public Defender Ivette Maningo, said she is still waiting for all of the necessary police reports and documents to be turned over by the district attorney’s office.

Delatorre, 18, and Aguirre, 17, each face six charges including murder, robbery, burglary and kidnapping in connection with the death of Basic High School choir teacher Matthew Cox on Dec. 22. Both were arrested by Henderson Police on Dec. 23, and Aguirre is being tried as an adult.

Delatorre and Aguirre were picked up by Cox the day before and taken back to his house, where they played video games, according to police reports.

After a while, Cox drove the two back to their home in downtown Las Vegas. Aguirre later told police that when they stopped in front of the home, Delatorre struck him in the head and they both choked him, the police report says.

They drove Cox’s 2007 Volkswagen back to Cox’s Henderson home, where they left his body on a sofa, according to police. Aguirre told police they also stole a laptop computer, an iPod, DVDs and a Wii console from the home, the police statement says.

Aguirre told police, according to the statement, that he and Delatorre wanted to rob Cox and did not mean to kill him.

Jeff O’Brien can be reached at 990-8957 or [email protected].

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