A man accused of murdering a California Institute of the Arts student in Newhall was ordered back to court Sept. 24 for a preliminary hearing, according to L.A. County Superior Court records available online.
Jack Minh Terry, 22, of Garden Grove, is accused of killing Emily King, whose given name was Menghan Zhuang.
The 23-year-old Chinese national was planning to graduate from CalArts earlier this year. Instead, her roommate found her lifeless body in the bathroom of an apartment they shared on Feb. 4, after King had not responded to several messages.
Homicide detectives said screenshots of security footage they’ve circulated online shows Terry climbing out of the second-story window of King’s apartment hours before her body was found.
During a preliminary hearing, the prosecution presents its evidence, and Judge Pamela Usher of the San Fernando Superior Court will decide whether there’s enough to proceed to trial.
Sheriff’s Lt. Michael Modica said Terry was arrested Feb. 16 as the result of an investigation by the Homicide Bureau, with assistance from the department’s Major Crimes Bureau, which surveilled Terry prior to his arrest.
Terry is being held without bail pending trial at Men’s Central Jail in Downtown Los Angeles.
He had no criminal history prior to Lakewood Sheriff’s Station deputies arresting him on suspicion of King’s murder, according to the prosecution’s notes. Prosecutors requested Terry be remanded to custody due to the violent nature of the allegations, according to court records.
Court records detailed a series of violent injuries sustained by King, whom detectives believe had arranged to meet Terry at her apartment on the evening before she was found murdered.
