Audio recording may include confession in triple-homicide case

An audio recording that may include a confession in the 2014 deaths of three Pasco people was given Tuesday to a defense attorney.

Benton County Prosecutor Andy Miller told the court he provided a copy of the recording to John Chambers, one of two lawyers for Francisco J. Resendez Miranda.

The recording of a private conversation came to light Aug. 31 when a defendant in an unrelated criminal case claimed to have information about the triple homicide. Prosecutors reached a plea agreement with that woman in order to get her cellphone so investigators could do a forensic analysis.

Miller previously said he did not know if the tape would be of any value to his case against Resendez Miranda.

The Umatilla man is charged in Benton County Superior Court with three counts of aggravated first-degree murder. His trial is set for Nov. 2.

He allegedly had a role in the fatal shootings of Abigail Torres-Renteria, 23, Victoria Torres, 19, and David Perez-Saucedo, 22.

Their bodies were found Aug. 9, 2014, in a Benton County cornfield off Nine Canyon Road. Torres-Renteria was almost nine months pregnant.

Judge Bruce Spanner found at an earlier court hearing that it was appropriate for prosecutors to provide the secret recording to the defense attorneys.

Shane Silverthorn, the lead lawyer for Resendez Miranda, was not at Tuesday’s hearing.

Miller noted that the defense asked prosecutors to help arrange interviews with eight state witnesses, and told the court that both sides are “working closely together.”

This story was originally published September 22, 2015 at 10:03 PM with the headline "Audio recording may include confession in triple-homicide case."