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Trial begins for man accused of 2012 Riverhead murder

Ms. Garcia's family leave court Thursday afternoon. (Credit: Paul Squire)
Ms. Garcia’s family leaves court Thursday afternoon. (Credit: Paul Squire)

After opening statements, the prosecution called a police officer, crime scene expert and the woman who discovered Ms. Garcia Mancilla’s body to the witness stand. Several times, Zully Garcia Mancilla left the courtroom.

Ms. Garcia Mancilla later said through an interpreter that sitting through the trial of her sister’s alleged killer makes her feel the same way as she did when she first learned her sister was dead.

Still, Ms. Garcia Mancilla and members of her family attended the trial Thursday, just as they had gone to court each time throughout the nearly two-year long court proceedings leading up to Thursday’s opening statements.

Ms. Garcia Mancilla said her sister had always been there for her, and comforted her when her infant child died two months before the killing.

“She was a really good person,” Ms. Garcia Mancilla said. “She’s with me all the time.” The family recently held a memorial for her.

But Ms. Garcia Mancilla told reporters that she also wanted to see justice served for her sister.

“I want him to pay for what he did,” she said outside the courtroom.

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