Politics & Government

Barona Cousin Testifies Lloyd Talked About Killing Christopher Carioscia

Dustin Montiel testifies with immunity in the preliminary hearing for Stanley Lloyd Jr. who is charged with first-degree murder on Barona Indian Reservation.

The final witness in the preliminary hearing for Stanley Lloyd Jr. walked into the courtroom Thursday afternoon accompanied by a Sheriff's deputy, his own attorney and a staff person from the district attorney's office.

He is Dustin Montiel, a key witness against the man accused of taking the life of a 17-year-old El Capitan High School student and dumping his body on Barona Indian Reservation last fall.

Montiel is Lloyd's cousin. He is testifying under an immunity agreement with the District Attorney's Office. Both Lloyd and Montiel are members of the Barona Tribe.

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Montiel testified that Lloyd told him one day that he (Lloyd) should "just kill" Christopher Carioscia — "Bam — just like that."

Christopher was known as Turtle.

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Montiel told the court that Lloyd said one day he (Lloyd) should "just set up Turtle to buy drugs and then kill him."

He said he thought Lloyd said this prior to when Christopher went missing in late October 2010.

He further testified that a couple of days after he heard Christopher was missing, he texted Lloyd about it. Lloyd responded, "I heard he owed someone some money," Montiel told the court.

Lloyd also said, "If he's just hiding and I find him, I'm gonna kill him because of all the heat he's brought up to the reservation," Montiel said.

When defense attorney Roland Haddad asked, "'The heat' means all the cops up there asking questions, right?" Montiel said, "Right."

Christopher went missing sometime after midnight on Oct. 26, 2010. The last reported sighting of him alive was outside Barona Casino. He had told his mother that he'd gone to meet friends there.

His mother's car, which he had been driving, was found burned out the next day on the reservation. His body was found on the reservation about six weeks later.

The medical examiner has testified Christopher died of multiple gunshot wounds, some of them from behind. It was noted morphine can be a metabolite of heroin. A witness has testified Lloyd said he killed "a kid" because of a "heroin deal" gone wrong.

Montiel told the court that he and Lloyd broke into a home once and stole three guns. He said Lloyd kicked in the front door.

He also said Lloyd gave him a 357 revolver and told him he should hide it "because there are two bodies on it."

"It means someone was killed with it," Montiel testified. "I didn't really believe it. I put it under my bed."

He said Lloyd told him, "Whoever had the gun was killed with it. It can't be traced to you."

Montiel told the court that Lloyd asked him to go with him to find a bag of bullets once.

At least two witnesses have testified that Lloyd threw a gun and a bag of bullets into the trees by a fire pit area on the reservation a couple of nights after Christopher went missing.

Montiel testified Lloyd asked him to go with him to look for a gun.

"He said he threw the gun away because cops were following him," Montiel stated.

Montiel said he had gone to school with Christopher and had bought Xanax, a presciption anxiety medication, from him.

Defense attorney Haddad asked Montiel, "When (Lloyd) said he should just kill Christopher, you thought he was kidding, right?"

"Yes," responded Montiel.

At one point, Deputy District Attorney David Williams III asked Montiel, who said he had lied a few times to a detective once out of fear, whether he knew the consequences if he lied under his immunity agreement Thursday in court.

"The deal's off," Montiel said.

Montiel's testimony is due to continue Friday beginning at 1:45 p.m. in Department 16 of the El Cajon courthouse.

At the end of the testimony, Judge John M. Thompson is expected to decide whether the case will go to trial. If convicted, Lloyd faces a sentence of 50 years to life in prison.


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