RivCo Cold-Case Killing: Defendant Pleads Not Guilty To Murder, Other Charges

MEAD VALLEY, CA — One of five men accused of gunning down a Mead Valley resident during a home invasion robbery almost two decades ago pleaded not guilty Tuesday to first-degree murder and other charges.

DeShawn Cordell Hill, 36, of Riverside was arrested in July following a Riverside County Sheriff's Department Cold Case Unit investigation into the slaying of 51-year-old Andres Valdes.

Along with murder, Hill is charged with a special circumstance allegation of killing in the course of a robbery and a sentence-enhancing gun use allegation.

He was arraigned before Superior Court Judge Melissa Hale, who scheduled a felony settlement conference for Jan. 20 at the Riverside Hall of Justice.

Hill is being held without bail at the Robert Presley Jail.

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Three of his co-defendants — brothers Dennis Jamal Haynes and Kenneth Lamar Haynes, both 37 and of Phoenix, and Kenneth Tucker II, 37, of Riverside — were arraigned in July. They're scheduled to appear alongside Hill in January.

A fifth defendant, Keith Isaiah Crutchfield, 37, of Killeen, Texas, is awaiting extradition from the Lone Star State, where he's incarcerated.

Tucker alone is charged with a sentencing-enhancing great bodily injury allegation for the alleged attack. He's being held without bail at the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning, while the Haynes brothers are being held without bail at the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta.

Sheriff's Sgt. Jarred Bishop said Cold Case Unit detectives reopened the Valdes homicide case last February after it lay dormant for years.

The victim was attacked late on the night of June 13, 2007, according to Bishop.

He said the Mead Valley man was home with several family members in the 19000 block of Mariposa Avenue, near Wood Road, when the armed defendants allegedly forced their way onto the property and confronted the victims.

"Deputies learned that the masked suspects entered ... with the intent of committing a robbery," the sergeant said. "Valdes became involved in a physical altercation with the suspects, when one of them shot and killed him."

The defendants grabbed what valuables were in sight and fled the location, Bishop alleged.

The victim died at the scene. Others in the household suffered minor injuries.

"This case unfortunately went cold without an arrest," Bishop said.

Renewed efforts to identify the assailants by the Cold Case Unit turned up additional evidence, which wasn't disclosed, culminating in arrest warrants being issued for all the defendants in July.

Background information on the men wasn't available.