KESQ.com News Services

INDIO - Two reputed gang members accused of kidnapping and shooting a man before dumping his body in a vacant field in Desert Hot Springs are scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.

Concepcion Rodriguez, 33, and Mingus Anthony Chavarria, 31, have pleaded not guilty to the abduction and slaying of 27-year-old Anastacio Torres, whose body was found in a dirt field near Verbena and San Lorenzo drives in Desert Hot Springs.

Rodriguez was arrested June 1 at his home in the 66000 block of 10th Street in Desert Hot Springs, according to jail records. Chavarria was already in custody at North Kern State Prison in Delano, serving a three-year sentence for an unrelated crime, and was transferred to Riverside County last Wednesday for arraignment.

Both are scheduled to appear in court today for a felony settlement conference -- an informal discussion before a judge between a defense attorney and a prosecutor to discuss a possible resolution to a case.

The men allegedly abducted Torres and questioned him before killing him because Rodriguez believed the man had raped his then-girlfriend.

Torres was last seen alive by his girlfriend and her parents around 11:30 p.m. on May 13, 2006, at an apartment complex in the 66000 block of Second Street in Desert Hot Springs.

Torres was seen leaving the apartment with Rodriguez and a man who was unknown to the family, according to police Sgt. Radames Gil, who prepared a declaration in support of an arrest warrant. He was found dead the next morning.

Rodriguez, who was interviewed in July 2006 about the murder, told police that Torres was alive when he left him at a church parking lot near the apartment.

The case went cold until last November 2008, when a former cellmate of Rodriguez came forward and told a Riverside County district attorney's investigator that Rodriguez had told him he had killed Torres for raping his girlfriend, according to declaration.

"Rodriguez told the cellmate that he had tied up and tortured Torres, breaking Torres' kneecaps and toes with a sledge hammer, and that he ultimately shot Torres," Gil wrote.

In March, when Chavarria was interviewed in state prison about the murder, he minimized his alleged involvement but provided other details, according to Gil.

Chavarria admitted going with Rodriguez to talk to Torres and said they left after an argument and got into a car, where Rodriguez put zip-ties on Torres' hands, Gil wrote. They then allegedly went to Rodriguez's apartment at 13355 Palm Drive.

Rodriguez had brought his girlfriend the apartment to confront Torres, according to the declaration. Torres denied raping the girlfriend, but Rodriguez didn't believe him.

Chavarria said he turned his head and heard two gunshots, according to Gil. He denied helping to get rid of Torres' body, which was discovered on May 14, 2006, atop two blankets, his hands tied in front of him with off-white plastic zip-ties.

Torres had two bullet wounds in his upper body -- one to the chest and another to the back -- along with abrasions on his right shoulder and right forearm and bruising on his knees, according to the declaration.