News Releases

Jose Echeverria and Dallas Pineda face life without the possibility of parole

LOS ANGELES — A jury has found Jose Antonio Echeverria also known as Klepto and Dallas Stone Pineda aka Trippy guilty of all charges and allegations in the 2015 murders of two teenage girls whose bodies were discovered near a hiking trail in Montecito Heights.

“These brutal killings cut short the lives of two teenagers and left their families devastated,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said. “This verdict delivers justice for the victims, and I want to thank our Gang Homicide Division in particular Deputy District Attorneys David Ayvazian and Stephen Lonseth for their tireless work in pursuing this case.”

Echeverria (dob 3/31/97) and Pineda (dob 9/2/98) both of Los Angeles were each convicted of two counts of first-degree murder with special circumstance allegations of lying in wait and that the killings involved multiple victims. Their sentencing hearing is scheduled for Dec. 11 in Department 107 of the Foltz Criminal Justice Center before Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge George Lomeli. Each faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.

On Oct. 27, 2015, Echeverria and Pineda lured Brianna Gallegos, 17, and Gabriella Calzada, 19, to a secluded area of Ernest E. Debs Regional Park in Montecito Heights, where they shot and beat them to death with a large rock. Both victims’ bodies were found on Oct. 28, 2015, near a hiking trail at the park.

Case BA443470 was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorneys David Ayvazian and Stephen Lonseth of the Gang Homicide Division and investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department.