A California man pleaded not guilty on Monday to kidnapping and fatally beating a woman last week.
KABC reported that Dino Rojas-Moreno, 26, used a fire extinguisher to fatally beat Tatum Goodwin, 27, in Laguna Beach on November 11. The following morning, construction worker discovered Goodwin’s body in an alley behind an old movie theater and Carmelita’s, the restaurant where she worked.
READ: Suspect Arrested Days After Construction Worker Finds Laguna Beach Woman’s Battered Body in Alley
“Her body was under a chain link fence on a construction site and a sandbag had been placed on her head,” prosecutors said, according to KTLA.
Detectives believe Rojas-Moreno dragged Goodwin to a rear parking lot and through an alley before fatally beating her with a fire extinguisher.
Orange County Register reported that Rojas-Moreno works as a bartender at Laguna Beach’s Royal Hawaiian Fire Grill. Rojas-Moreno allegedly claimed he did not go to work a day after Goodwin’s slaying because two men attacked him in Santa Ana.
Authorities have not yet disclosed whether Rojas-Moreno and Goodwin knew each other. However, Goodwin’s friends and family told KABC that they did not know Rojas-Moreno and Goodwin did not either.
Rojas-Moreno remains jailed without bond. He is due back in court on January 30.
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Featured image: Tatum Goodwin/KTLA; Dino Rojas-Moreno/Laguna Beach Police Department]
