RIVERSIDE, Calif.—Two Riverside County men have been found guilty of murdering an 18-year-old girl, putting her body in a 55-gallon drum and leaving it in a field in Southern California.
Two separate Riverside Superior Court juries on Monday convicted Jeffree Buettner of Menifee and Glen Jones of Wildomar of the 2002 murder.
Prosecutors say Buettner and Jones beat and strangled Stephanie Benton because they thought she was talking to law enforcement about other crimes the men had committed.
Her decomposed body was found in a drum in a Lake Elsinore field with a leather belt around her neck and duct tape wrapped around her head.
The juries also found special circumstances that make the men eligible for the death penalty.
© Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
