Suspect raped, took lewd photos of dying woman, then stuffed body in crate, police say
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A 19-year-old man in a Seattle suburb was charged Friday with second-degree rape, manslaughter and controlled substance homicide after police say he raped a high school student as she was dying from an overdose and then texted explicit photos of her to friends.
Authorities said the suspect, identified as Brian Roberto Varela, of Lynnwood, Wash., was arrested Tuesday after police found the 18-year-old woman's body stuffed in a plastic crate in the suspect’s home.
Varela reportedly told investigators he planned to bury the body with onions to mask the smell.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He told investigators that he met Alyssa Mae Noceda at a party in a mobile home park, the Herald, in Everett, Wash., reported.
During the evening, the woman snorted Percocet and ingested liquid marijuana before collapsing in Varela's room, authorities said. But instead of helping the woman, they said, Varela took lewd photos of her and sent them to her friends with a text reading “LOL, I think she od’d, still breathing.”
Police said one of Varela’s co-workers contacted them after Varela reportedly said he didn’t know if Noceda was still alive when he was having sex with her. Court records say he told a friend that "she died having sex with me," and that he was having sex with her "to pass the time."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Valera also admitted using the woman's thumb to unlock her cellphone after she died to make it appear that she had run away, authorities said.
He was charged Friday in Snohomish County Superior Court.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.