Crime & Safety
Trial Kicked Off Monday For Man Accused Of Fatally Stabbing Ex In Montgomery County
Freddy Mendieta Pando, 23, of Delaware County, is charged in the killing of 23-year-old Karina Torres. She was stabbed to death last Sept.
LOWER PROVIDENCE, PA — Trial began on Monday in Norristown for a Delaware County man charged with the fatal stabbing of his ex-girlfriend in Montgomery County back in September.
Freddy Mendieta Pando, 23, of Upper Darby, is charged with killing 23-year-old Karina Torres back on Sept. 11, 2021 and leaving her body at the Betzwood Trailhead of the Schuylkill River Trail in Lower Providence Township.
Pando reportedly used a cellphone translation app to confess to the crime to detectives when he strolled into the Upper Darby police headquarters in Delaware County last fall.
Find out what's happening in Lower Providencefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The case was ultimately transferred over to Montgomery County, where investigators with the Lower Providence Township Police Department and county detectives discovered Torres' body along a portion of the Schuylkill River Trail.
Pando is being charged with first-degree murder, third-degree murder, and possessing an instrument of crime.
Find out what's happening in Lower Providencefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Court records show that a jury trial began in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court on Monday before Judge William R. Carpenter.
The trial is expected to last up to a week.
Full coverage of the trial's first day can be read here on the Mercury of Pottstown.
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