Jury finds man guilty of killing 14-year-old Kansas cheerleader

April 6, 2012: Adam Longoria watches the jury enter the courtroom during his trial in Barton County District Court in Great Bend, Kan. (AP)

GREAT BEND, Kan. – A jury on Friday convicted a central Kansas man of capital murder in the killing of a 14-year-old cheerleader whose charred body was found at the asphalt plant where the man worked.

Adam Longoria, 38, stood and stared straight at jurors, wearing a blank expression as the judge polled each of them to confirm the decision. The jury had deliberated less than four hours after closing arguments capped six days of testimony about the August 2010 killing of Alicia Debolt.

Alicia was last seen alive when she left her home in Great Bend for a party just before midnight Aug. 21, 2010. Her family reported her missing the next day, setting off a search that ended three days later when her remains, with traces of duct tape on her ankles and face, were found at the Venture Corp. plant. Alicia's remains were so badly burned that the coroner had to rely on dental records to identify her.

Longoria was 36 when he began pursuing the teen after meeting her at a party in July that year.

"She is a teenager," prosecutor Kevin O'Connor told jurors earlier Friday. "Maybe this little girl is trying to be a little bit older than she was -- but he was a lot older."

O'Connor reminded jurors of the hundreds of text messages Longoria exchanged with Alicia, underlining his obsession with the teen, including the text messages that showed he picked her up the night she disappeared and that she thought she was going to a party.

The prosecutor noted Longoria's semen was found mixed with Alicia's DNA in his vehicle.

Other evidence indicating Longoria was involved in Alicia's grisly death included gasoline on his gym shoes and video surveillance showing him buying $1.32 of gas on the night she disappeared.

His ex-girlfriend testified that he smelled of gasoline when he came home and that her car reeked of it the next morning. Other witnesses testified that Longoria asked them to lie about his whereabouts that night.

O'Connor also pointed to the destruction of evidence: Alicia's body was burned so badly it was impossible to determine if she was sexually assaulted; Longoria's ex-girlfriend testified that he washed his clothes when he came home that night, and later shredded his T-shirt and asked her to dispose of it.

Defense attorney Jeff Wicks said text messages indicated Alicia was in a sexual relationship with another boy and suggested that boy or someone else could have killed her. He said Longoria had bragged about having sex with Alicia, meaning her DNA could have ended up in his car on another occasion. And DNA from an unknown male was found in the girl's mouth.

O'Connor said text messages sent from Longoria's phone did not indicate he had "accomplished his goal, his conquest of a 14-year-old," and he derided Wicks' efforts to portray someone else as a possible killer.

"It is his fault," O'Connor said, pointing to the defendant. "And the evidence establishes that."

To find Longoria guilty of capital murder, jurors had to determine he committed criminal sodomy, aggravated criminal sodomy or attempted rape during the killing. Jurors also were allowed to consider lesser charges such as first-degree murder and second-degree murder.