AMBER HESS - 17 yo (2007) - Florence AZ

Florence AZ ---- One of two suspects in the
2007 murder of an East Valley teen is expected to change his plea in
court today.

The partially burned body of 17-year-old Amber Hess
was found on June 25, 2007 in the desert northwest of Florence.

Todd Hoke is expected to plead guilty in the murder.

Early in the murder investigation, police were eyeing two boys eventually arrested
for fatally stabbing her, dumping her body in the desert and leaving it
partially burned.

On June 25, the day after she was reported
missing, Pinal County Sheriff's deputies took a pair of shoes and a gas
can from the home of Nicolas Castillo, a 16-year-old from the Queen
Creek area, according to the Pinal County Sheriff's Office.

Investigators said they later searched Castillo's bedroom and found a bloody t-shirt,
Hess' I-Pod and her parents' camcorder.

On June 26, investigators told Castillo and Todd Hoke, a 16-year-old from the Queen
Creek area, that the case was now focused on them.

Sheriff Chris Vasquez said the boys, who went to school with her, planned the attack
for weeks and killed her because they didn't like her.

Pinal County Sheriff Chris Vasquez said indictments were handed down June
28th, 2007 charging the two murder suspects/

Both Hoke and Castillo are charged with the same 7 counts.

1. Murder 1st degree - premeditated class 1 felony
2. Murder 1st degree - class 1 felony
3. Burglary 1st degree-residence - class 2 Dangerous felony
4. Theft - gun class 6 felony
5. Theft of means of transportation - class 3 felony
6. Tampering w/physical evidence - class 6 felony
7. Concealment of a dead body - class 5 felony

According to the Pinal County Superior Court Administrator Hoke is in court today and is
expected to change his plea.

He will go in front of Judge Johnson.

Authorities were drawn into the case after Hess' parents reportedly
returned home from a weekend at Rocky Point, Mexico, and found a bloody
kitchen and discovered both their daughter and her car were missing from
their home.

Deputies said they found a pool of blood on the
kitchen floor and blood splattered on the walls as well as the kitchen
counter.

Portions of the blood appeared to have been partially
wiped up, or hosed off. The water hose was left running outside.

Hess' bedding was found in their bedroom. Curtains were missing. The door to
her room was found off its hinges.

Paperwork later indicated Hess was pregnant.

May 29
“It’s a Long, Dark Road” – Sentencing for the Killers of Amber LeAnn Hess

In
a press conference yesterday after the sentencing of Todd Hoke and
Nicholas Castillo, the confessed murders of Amber Hess, Candy Hess said
that from here on out it’s a long, dark road trying to figure out who
they will be. Mike has yet to grieve. Candy talks to a picture of her
baby daily.
But yesterday was a milestone in that road. It was three years coming
that felt like a lifetime of reliving daily the tragedy that was the
brutal murder of their child Amber. In the sentencing Candy spoke for
Mike and Candy. She relived for an hour through tears the horrors of the
day she and Mike returned from Rocky Point only to find their blood
soaked home ransacked; their daughter missing.
After an hour of testimony, she turned to Mike. It was then that I
could see the toll in her eyes of constant crying. Mike gave her a nod.
Candy turned back to the judge then asked for the maximum sentence to be
imposed on Todd Hoke and Nicholas Castillo. Then she spoke directly to
the young men who plotted and murdered her child.
Todd Hoke received a life sentence with the possibility of parole in
25 years for first degree murder minus 1066 days of time served.
Nicholas Castillo received 22 years for second degree murder plus two
years for abandonment or concealment of a body minus 1066 days of time
served.http://sthcw.spaces.live.com/