Lonnie Liner gets prison in girl’s stabbing death
Sentenced 26 years to life
Lonnie Liner, the young man who stabbed to death his 11-year-old cousin and seriously injured her 14-year-old sister, Sharoya, in the high desert community of Littlerock, was sentenced Tuesday to 26 years to life in prison.
Lancaster Superior Court Judge Hayden Zacky imposed the term on Lonnie Lee Liner, who pleaded no contest March 28 to one count each of second-degree murder and attempted murder.
Dahlia Lenaris was pronounced dead the morning of Aug. 3, 2010, by paramedics sent to a home in the 10300 block of East Avenue R-14.
Liner was arrested near the crime scene later that day. He was 16 at the time of the crimes, but was charged as an adult.
Bail for Liner had been set at $2.04 million.
One of the lead investigators in the case, Detective Bill Marsh, said it was especially “unusual and tragic” during his investigation in August 2010.
“This is one of the worse (cases), meaning the family ties makes it one of the worst. We’re talking about cousins,” Marsh said. “All murders are terrible. I don’t like to place them on a hierarchy, but this was extremely difficult to understand in many ways. There is no logic behind it.”
When Liner was first seen in a courtroom in December 2010, some thought he looked disturbed. At that time, the prosecution presented the taped interview of Liner in which Marsh and his partner Detective Christopher Bergner questioned Liner about the events that occurred on the morning of Aug. 3.
Liner, without hesitation or fright, recounted the murder from the time he woke up to the time authorities arrested him.
When the detectives asked why he did it, he said, “I was bored… I have mental (problems).” There was a “voice inside my head that told me you better do it, just go ahead,” he was recorded as saying.
PALMDALE, Calif.—It has been almost a year since the lives of the Liner and Lenaris families were changed forever. It was that dreadful morning on Aug. 3, 2010, when 16-year-old Lonnie Liner allegedly stabbed his 11-year-old cousin Dahlia Lenaris to death and nearly took the life of her older sister.
Some suggest it was a mental breakdown; others say it was pure evil. The trial for the alleged teen killer has not begun, and close family relations have been reserved about sharing any information about the imprisoned Liner, now 17.
LANCASTER, Calif.—The family of Lonnie Liner, the 17-year-old accused murderer, filed into the Michael Antonovich Antelope Valley Courthouse on Monday but, again, the trial has been pushed to another date, April 25.
Last summer, Liner was arrested and charged with the murder of his 11-year-old cousin Dahlia Lenaris and the attempted murder of her 14-year-old sister Sharoya in the Littlerock home of their guardian.
LANCASTER, Calif. —Last week, sources close to the family of Lonnie Liner said the young man, who is in custody for allegedly murdering his cousin, Dahlia Lenaris, does not remember committing acts that led to the death of his relative.
LANCASTER, Calif.—Inside a courtroom at the Michael Antonovich AV Courthouse last Thursday, 16-year-old murder suspect Lonnie Liner sat next to his public defender looking for familiar faces in the audience. They were nowhere to be found.
Liner’s family usually comes to each of his hearings, but this time it appeared as if they missed the appointment.
LANCASTER, Calif.—Lonnie Liner, the 16-year-old boy accused of fatally stabbing his 11-year-old cousin, Dahlia Lenaris, and critically wounding her 14-year-old sister in a Littlerock home, pleaded not guilty last Thursday at the Antelope Valley Superior Court. He has been charged with one count each of murder and attempted murder.
Lenaris, whose throat was slashed, was pronounced dead by paramedics sent to the home in the 10300 block of East Avenue R-14 about 7:45 a.m. Aug. 3.
