Pismo Beach murder suspect’s hearing delayed, no autopsy report
December 10, 2024
Andrew Rodriguez
By KAREN VELIE
A hearing for a 34-year-old man charged with murdering his close friend in Pismo Beach was reschedule after his attorney argued he was never provided the autopsy report. Andrew Frederick Rodriguez is charged with murdering 39-year-old Jonathan Campbell Perez, his friend and coworker at Giuseppe’s in Pismo Beach.
On the evening of Sept. 11, Rodriguez allegedly stabbed and killed Perez at the victim’s home on the 1200 block of Price Street. Rodriguez then left Perez’s home and drove to Ventura where he allegedly cut his own neck and then jumped off a pier in a suicide attempt.
Perez pleaded not guilty on Sept. 30. At that time, Rodriguez’s attorney Ilan Funke-Bilu said that more discovery, such as an autopsy report, was needed to determine Perez’s cause of death.
At a hearing on Monday, Funke-Bilu told SLO Superior Court Judge Timothy Covello he had still not received the autopsy report. The autopsy was completed within a week of the alleged murder.
After determining the SLO County Sheriff’s Office had not completed the autopsy report, Covello ordered the coroner to complete the report by Jan. 3.
A pre-preliminary hearing is scheduled for Jan. 6.
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