By TERRY VAU DELL
Chico Enterprise-Record
OROVILLE, Calif. — A murder suspect Tuesday was held to answer on new charges of possession of a makeshift weapon and an alcohol substance in the Butte County Jail.
Gustavo Tafolla, 28, of Orland, will be arraigned on the latest charges on May 22.
That is the same day for confirming his June 2 trial date in the homicide case.
Tafolla is accused of the fatal stabbing last May of Myndee Michelle Rosado, 28, whose body was found in a canal in Glenn County.
Assistant district attorney Francisco Zarate said Tuesday that DNA tests on blood samples recovered from an orchard on Ord Ferry Road in Butte County where Tafolla was then working, establishes the killing occurred there and that the body was later dumped in the canal.
Tafolla was awaiting trial in the homicide case when a search of his Butte County Jail cell Dec. 29 reportedly turned up three containers of a suspected homemade alcohol concoction called “pruno” made with bread, rotting fruit and water.
Correctional officer Craig Koenig-Dent testified at a preliminary hearing for Tafolla Tuesday that during the random search, a sharpened piece of metal wrapped between two pieces of plastic eating utensils with bandages, was found concealed in box of soap inside a drawer underneath Tafolla’s bunk bed. Tafolla’s attorney, Eric Ortner, got the jailer to concede cell doors are left open during the day when inmates are taken out to the adjoining day room.
But Koenig-Dent testified prisoners are barred from entering another inmate’s cell and a tower guard is positioned to try to prevent that from happening.
The correctional officer said that although paint which is sometimes used for tattooing was found in Tafolla’s cell, it appeared that the homemade weapon had no other purpose than to “harm someone.”
Zarate, who is prosecuting the pending homicide case, said it is unknown what Tafolla planned to do with the makeshift jail weapon.
Superior Court Judge Steven Howell ruled there was sufficient evidence to bind Tafolla over for trial on possession of an illegal jail “shank,” which carries up to four years in prison.
The pruno charge could add eight more months. Tafolla would face a life sentence if convicted of murder.
Zarate said it now appears unlikely he will be able to try the murder and the jail charges together.
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