Finally, the motive -- as reported from the trial brief:
Owen Shover and Aranda both attended Moreno Valley High School in the fall of 2017 and shared mutual friends. On
Nov 7, 2017, the friends ditched school, and gathered in Community Park where a school resource officer seeking truants spotted the teens.
Shover, in possession of a handgun, panicked and tossed it to Aranda-- yelling for her to "hide it." Frightened, Aranda tossed the gun into a drainage canal-- but not before being seen by the resource officer who collected the weapon. When called before school administrators, Aranda disclosed that Shover was the one with the gun who tossed it to her.
The matter came before the local school board in February 2018, and its members voted to expel Aranda and Shover from Moreno Valley High. She enrolled in a nearby continuation school, while Shover moved out of his mother’s Moreno Valley home and relocated to his father’s residence and enrolled in a continuation school in Hesperia. But he was incensed over being kicked out of Moreno Valley High and what he evidently perceived as Aranda’s betrayal of trust, according to the brief.
Reportedly, in the eyes of Shover, getting expelled from Monroe Valley HS was evidence of the betrayal of Aranda's trust, and this sealed her fate. Via social media, Investigators obtained evidence of Shover shopping for another weapon between
Nov 2018 and January 2019. The defendant became meticulous in his plan to destroy Aranda:
On Jan. 12, 2019, Shover contacted Aranda via text, inviting her to join him the following day while he made drug deliveries and “robs drug dealers,” the brief alleged. She agreed to meet him at Bayside Park, and the two connected shortly before 5 p.m. on Jan 13, 2019... Aranda posted several pictures to social media accounts within an hour, showing her and Shover in his car, expressing elation to be with her “homie,” who was letting her do some of the driving, according to the brief...While en route, Shover contacted his brother via FB messenger, stating, “Be ready for tonight. Get shovels and lighter fluid ready,” according to the brief.
The defendant retrieved his brother (Gary Shover) from the mobile home park, and the two headed north into the San Bernardino Mountains via state Routes 138 and 18. Between 8:33 p.m. and 10:14 p.m. According to the prosecutor, the defendant allegedly shut off his cell phone, making its signal unreadable-- but it returned to life after he reached his father’s home (located at 16210 Grevillea St).
Trial Brief Details
Now that we finally have a glimpse of the details-- I'm anxious to learn of the search efforts in the San Bernardino Mountains. I just watched a YT (Profiling Evil) on the recovery of Dylan Rounds in the Utah desert and I'm saddened that more than five years has lapsed before we learned of these details.
View attachment 521957
CA-138 & CA-18
California 93544
Intersection
www.google.com
