Ex-Stanford preschool teacher jailed for suspicion of murder
STANFORD, Cali - Twenty-two-year-old Diana Ornelas, a preschool teacher, and 27-year-old Dennis Novoa are both behind bars and charged with murdering a San Jose man.
Investigators said the two friends murdered Oliver Waterfall.
The body of the 27-year-old was found on April 11 in a remote area near Highway 9, near Cathedral Woods, in between Felton and Santa Cruz, in Santa Cruz County.
"Through investigations of people who last saw him, who last saw our victim, mister waterfall, and reviewing surveillance footage, they were able to make that connection," said Ashley Keehn, a spokesperson for the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office.
"His body was found off of the side of the road, kind of down a hillside. But it is a very wooded, kind of remote area of Hwy 9," said Keehn.
Santa Cruz County sheriff’s detectives are spearheading this case. They said Ornelas was arrested last April 26 at her job on the Stanford University campus. She had worked as a preschool teacher at the Children’s Center of the Stanford Community.
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"The arrest happened at naptime, outside of the perimeter of the CCSC campus. Children were not present when this occurred, and it did not disrupt operations," the university said in a statement.
Stanford went on to write in a separate email that Ornelas "is no longer employed there.The event that led to the arrest did not have a connection to the campus community.
Investigators said Novoa was arrested after questioning at the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office. And, that the two suspects, and their victim, all knew each other. But a motive for the killing remains a mystery.
Both Ornelas and Novoa are due back in court later this month for a preliminary hearing.
Jesse Gary is a reporter based in the station's South Bay bureau. Follow him on Twitter, @JesseKTVU and Instagram, @jessegontv