The 22-year-old Garden Grove man accused of murdering a California Institute of the Arts senior in her Newhall apartment was held to answer at a preliminary hearing in Department I of the San Fernando Courthouse.
Jack Minh Terry now faces a felony arraignment scheduled for Christmas Eve on one count of first-degree murder in the death of 23-year-old Emily King, a Chinese national who also went by Menghan Zhuang and expected to graduate from CalArts earlier this year.
The preliminary hearing included testimony from three witnesses, photographs, a manilla envelope “purporting to contain video of the defendant jumping out of a window,” two pages of Instagram and text messages and 23 pages of reports on biological evidence, according to the minute order from Terry’s hearing.
The witnesses included King’s roommate, who found King wrapped in blankets and towels with the shower running Feb. 4 in the Nandina Lane apartment they shared.
A detective report indicated King’s roommate told investigators he received a Ring doorbell camera notification on his phone around noon.
The alert sent him footage, later presented as evidence, of a man jumping out of the victim’s window.
The roommate arrived home after having not received any response from King and, in light of the security-camera alert, he became very worried for her, according to his statement to detectives. That’s when he broke into her bathroom and found her. He called 911 and waited for first responders.
The evidence seized by investigators included swabs from the defendant and items seized in his car, the victim’s apartment and even her studio space at CalArts, based on court records for a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department search warrant.
An investigation by homicide detectives Tera Frudakis and John Duncan identified Terry as their suspect, after a reward for information leading to a suspect was issued but never collected, according to homicide Lt. Michael Modica.
Modica said Terry was arrested Feb. 16, with assistance from the department’s Major Crimes Bureau, which surveilled Terry prior to his arrest.
Terry has hired renowned defense attorney Daniel Perlman and made several unsuccessful attempts at bail since his arrest.
In one request, he claimed the conditions at Men’s Central Jail were so terrible they impacted his ability to mount a defense, including regular beatings, inadequate care and substandard access to services.
The L.A. County District Attorney’s Office has cited the nature of the allegations against Terry in opposition to his bail.
