Man accused of killing 5-year-old gets mental evaluation
GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) – A psychiatric evaluation is underway pending trial for the man accused in the kidnapping, sexual assault and killing a 5-year-old girl.
The Sun Herald reports Alberto Julio Garcia is set for trial Oct. 10 on a capital murder charge.
Ja’Naya (juh-NAY-uh) Thompson was reported missing from The Palms apartment complex in Gulfport the night of July 16, 2014. She was found dead the next morning, hanging by two socks in the bathroom of a vacant mobile home.
Authorities said an autopsy showed she was sexually assaulted and died of asphyxiation by strangulation the night she went missing.
In a status hearing Monday in Harrison County Circuit Court, a public defender told Judge Lisa Dodson that Garcia’s psychiatric evaluation has not yet been completed.
