Laura Hall charged with mutilating corpse
A woman charged with helping a murder suspect flee Austin to Mexico is now charged with tampering with evidence from the grisly slaying and dismemberment.
Laura Hall, 23, is charged with altering or destroying a human body to cover up the August 2005 murder of Jennifer Cave. The 21-year-old legal secretary was found shot to death, beheaded and dismembered in an apartment on the University of Texas campus.
Hall is free on $25,000 bail. She'd already been charged with hindering apprehension.
Police say she drove Colton Pitonyak to Mexico to escape authorities. He later returned from Mexico and was convicted of the Cave murder. He was sentenced to 55 years in prison.
Both hindering apprehension and tampering with evidence are third-degree felonies, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
During his trial, Pitonyak testified that Hall led an aborted cover-up of the killing and that she cut up Cave's body. Hall's lawyer, Tom Weber, said during the trial that Pitonyak's testimony contained inaccuracies.
Copyright 2007 Associated Press, All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.