Puebla has been attending Fillmore High School with two of Zavala’s sisters; Valerie Zavala, an aspiring teacher, was a scholar and cheerleader who graduated from the school in 2001. Puebla was due to graduate next week.Search warrants were issued April 1 allowing investigators to collect a DNA sample from Puebla and to search his residence and vehicle. Investigators seized a classmate’s stolen diary, her car keys and drivers’ license as well as clothing stolen a female neighbor, among other items.After more than 300 mourners - including Puebla - attended Zavala’s funeral at St. Francis of Assisi Church six days after her body was found, investigators discovered evidence indicating that the attack on Zavala might have occurred on church grounds.At a news conference, Sheriff Bob Brooks said that repeated questioning of Puebla revealed inconsistencies that coupled with other evidence led to his arrest.
High School senior, 18, charged in brutal slaying of Valerie Zavala
June 07, 2003
Santa Paula News
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Samuel Puebla |
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula TimesAn 18-year-old Fillmore High School student was charged Wednesday in the brutal January murder of 19-year-old Valerie Zavala, whose body was found hidden in a South Mountain Road concrete drainage pipe on the first day of the year.Zavala, a San Jose State University student, was home for the holidays and attending a Fillmore New Year’s Eve party when she left with two people including Samuel Puebla, now 18.Puebla is a popular Fillmore High School football player and was this year’s Prom King. He reportedly asked Zavala, who was acting as the designated driver in a borrowed car, for a ride home from the party.Zavala’s body was found by a boy scrambling up an embankment along South Mountain Road between Santa Paula and Fillmore.Puebla was arrested Tuesday and appeared in Ventura County Superior Court for an arraignment on Wednesday; he did not enter a plea and remains in custody in lieu of $500,000 bail.Since Puebla was 17 years old at the time Zavala was asphyxiated and suffered blunt force head injuries, he would not be eligible for the death penalty even those the charges include a special allegation that the slaying occurred during the attempted rape of Zavala.
