EL DORADO, Kan. – The man accused of killing a Kansas college student who led a double life as an internet porn model pleaded not guilty on Tuesday. Israel Mireles, 26, is charged with capital murder, rape and aggravated criminal sodomy in the death of Emily Sander, 18.Sander, known to her fans as Zoey Zane, was slain in late 2007, after what prosecutors characterized as a night of underage drinking that culminated in brutal rape, sodomy, torture and Sander’s death. Her nude, stabbed, strangled and beaten body was found Nov. 29, off a highway 50 miles away from the bar witnesses said she departed with Mireles six days earlier.
Police officers tied the crime to Mireles after recovering a bloodstained knife from a trash bin in Baxter Springs, Kan., where Mireles picked up his pregnant girlfriend shortly before fleeing to Mexico after Sander disappeared. Investigators said Mireles’ semen was found on Sander’s body, as well as on a pair of boxer shorts found with the knife. The shorts were stained with both Mireles’ semen and Sander’s blood.
Nothing in testimony presented to Judge David Ricke on Tuesday indicated Sander’s death was related to her secret career. In fact, witnesses said Mireles attempted to pick up several other women the same night at the same bar.
Mireles was arrested at a relative’s home in Mexico in December 2007. In order to obtain extradition, U.S. authorities had to promise prosecutors would not seek the death penalty if Mireles is convicted. Instead, Mireles faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 2.
