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Avon resident Jaime Ledezma waved his right to a preliminary hearing on Tuesday and will head to district court next month.

Ledezma, 24, was arrested in April and charged in connection to a January case in which Edwards resident Mario Vildozola Romero was found dead near Highway 6 in Edwards. Romero is suspected to have been killed by motorist Sidney Whitmarsh while riding his bicycle during the early morning hours of Jan. 7.

Whitmarsh, also of Edwards, is accused of leaving the scene of the accident and several other crimes.

Romero’s body appeared to have been moved, according to the arrest affidavit for Ledezma, who has been accused of moving the body and charged with numerous felonies including tampering with a deceased human body, accessory to crime, tampering with physical evidence, and concealing death.

The prosecution has alleged that Ledezma conspired with Whitmarsh to conceal
Romero’s death by moving his body and conspiring to collect evidence from the scene.

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According to the arrest affidavit for Ledezma, the evidence in the case suggests Romero was most likely the victim of a “wrap” style crash, in which the victim contacts the hood and/or windshield of a vehicle.

For Romero’s body to be located where it was discovered — 21 feet off the north side of Highway 6 in Edwards at mile marker 165.9 — he would have had to have been impacted by a “forward projection” type of crash. But the damage on Whitmarsh’s vehicle — which was impounded in March — did not indicate a forward projection crash, according to the arrest affidavit.

Text messages on Whitmarsh’s phone state that Ledezma responded to the crash scene, saw Mr. Romero’s body, and removed the bike on which he is suspected to have been riding, according to the affidavit, giving prosecutors probable cause to believe that he moved Romero’s body, as well.

Ledezma is scheduled to appear before District Court Judge Jonathan Shamis on Jan. 6.