MONTGOMERY CITY (AP) - A Mexican national suspected of killing five men in a two-state crime spree was expected to be in court Thursday.
Pablo Antonio Serrano-Vitorino, 40, is accused of killing a Kansas City, Kansas, neighbor and three other men at the neighbor's home on March 7, then going about 170 miles into Missouri and killing Randy Nordman in New Florence, about 80 miles west of St. Louis, the following day.
A preliminary hearing for the Missouri crime is scheduled in Montgomery County, where Serrano-Vitorino is charged with first-degree murder, burglary, and armed criminal action. Prosecutors provided evidence showing why the case should go to trial on Thursday afternoon.
The Missouri Attorney General's office is assisting in the prosecution. The death penalty will be sought in the case.
Serrano-Vitorino also is charged with four counts of first-degree murder in Kansas. Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster has said Serrano-Vitorino would be tried first in his state, and the top prosecutor in Wyandotte County, Kansas, has said as long as Missouri prosecutors pursue charges, they have a right to keep him.
It isn't clear whether Kansas prosecutors will also seek the death penalty. A message left Thursday with a spokesman for Wyandotte County District Attorney Jerome Gorman was not immediately returned.
Authorities have not discussed a motive, though Gorman has said the Kansas killings did not appear to be drug-related.
A probable cause statement alleges Serrano-Vitorino confronted Nordman, 49, in Nordman's garage, and the two struggled over Serrano-Vitorino's rifle. As Nordman's wife ran for safety inside the house and called 911, she heard a gunshot and saw a man running away. He was captured a short time later.
Serrano-Vitorino is in the country illegally, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has said. He was deported in April 2004 and illegally re-entered the country sometime later.
He has avoided deportation despite legal run-ins that have included a battery conviction last summer in Kansas City, Kansas, ICE said.
Nordman's relatives have told the Associated Press that they "want answers" from U.S. immigration officials.
Serrano-Vitorino cut himself in jail with a safety razor in an apparent suicide attempt shortly after his capture and treated at a hospital.