October hearing set for man accused in girl’s rape, stabbing death

By Dave Toplikar

Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011 | 8:53 a.m.

A preliminary hearing has been delayed until October for Javier Righetti, who Metro Police say confessed to last Friday’s stabbing death and rape of 15-year-old Alyssa Otrembra.

After shedding a few tears while talking to his public defender, Timothy O’Brien, Righetti waived his right to a preliminary hearing within 15 days and also waived the formal reading of the charges against him.

Justice of the Peace Conrad Hafen set Righetti’s preliminary hearing for 9:30 a.m. Oct. 14 in Las Vegas Justice Court. He's being held without bail.

Righetti, 19, was arrested on charges of murder with a deadly weapon, sexual assault with a deadly weapon, first-degree kidnapping with a deadly weapon and robbery with a deadly weapon.

After the brief hearing, Chief Deputy District Attorney Giancarlo Pesci said he couldn't comment on whether the district attorney’s office would bypass the preliminary hearing process and try to get an indictment through the grand jury process.

Pesci also would not say whether the district attorney’s office would be seeking the death penalty, if a preliminary hearing or a grand jury indictment results in the matter being sent to Clark County District Court, where Righetti would enter a plea.

However, Pesci said the district attorney’s office was treating the case as a high priority.

“When a young girl gets raped and stabbed, it is,” Pesci said.

According to a police report, Alyssa had sent her mother a text message at 6:38 p.m. Friday that she was walking on Grand Teton to return home and would be home in about 30 minutes.

Police said the girl had walked to a nearby junior high school to meet with her friend to get a geometry book so she could do the homework she missed when she was out of school sick.

While she was walking, her friend called her and said he couldn’t meet with her, so Alyssa decided to return home, police said.

Alyssa’s mother, Jennifer Otremba, said her daughter never came home, prompting her to call her phone and search for her, the police report said. The girl’s mother then called Metro and reported that she was missing.

On Saturday, family and friends were searching for her when a body was found in a vacant lot south of the victim’s home, police said. The body was that of a female, and was burned and unrecognizable, police said.

On Monday an autopsy was performed and the body was identified as Otremba’s, police said.

“The body had more than 40 stab wounds to the face, neck, chest, stomach and thighs,” the police report said. “The body had been burned using an accelerant.”

On Monday, Elizabeth Morales, the girlfriend of Righetti’s friend, Daniel Ortiz, told police that while she was with Ortiz on Friday night, he received numerous phone calls from Righetti, but ignored them. She said Ortiz eventually called him back, and Ortiz told her he was worried Righetti had killed someone.

Police contacted Ortiz at the Subway Sandwich Shop at Sky Pointe and Buffalo, where he worked, and he agreed to give a statement about Righetti.

Ortiz told police Righetti had called him for help about the slaying and Ortiz told police he didn't believe Righetti, but took Righetti to a 7-Eleven store on Durango to buy matches and said Righetti bought gasoline from an Albertsons Express across the street. Ortiz said Righetti then asked him to drive him to the vacant lot near Oso Blanca Road, according to the arrest report.

However, Ortiz told him he was ill and left the scene, the police report said.

Police said they arrested Righetti at his home at 7964 Willow Pines Place.

“Righetti confessed to following Otremba and attacking her to rob and rape her with a kitchen knife from his house,” the police report says. “Righetti also confessed to another robbery and rape being investigated by detectives.”