Gruesome details revealed in preliminary hearing for man, girlfriend accused of murdering roommate

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Grisly details emerged during Thursday's preliminary hearing for 20-year-old Lawrence Madrid.

A judge ruled there is enough evidence to send him to trial for allegedly mutilating his roommate's body to help cover up his murder.

The decision came after gruesome testimony from detectives and a witness.

Madrid is charged with accessory to murder and mutilation of human remains in the death of his former roommate, 20-year-old Sergio Bonboster.

Investigators say Madrid's 17- year-old girlfriend stabbed Bonboster to death, and Madrid helped cover the crime.

The victim's body was mutilated, burned, and a part of it dumped in the canal near Hughes and Norwich in Northwest Fresno.

An unhoused woman, Amanda Morgan, who was with her dog found Bonboster's remains in October of last year.

She testified Thursday about the disturbing discovery.

"It looked like a human body, a hand, it looked like a human body like a disfigured," Morgan said.

Loren Kasten with the Fresno Police Department was assigned to the homicide unit as a detective.

He said when he arrived on scene that day, they could not immediately identify the victim.

"The body appeared to have been burned and there was only half of the body there," he said.

According to Kasten, officers had responded to a disturbance between the two roommates just two weeks prior.

He said during questioning, Madrid claimed Bonboster had been calling him names and challenging him to a fight -- which eventually did happen in the apartment they shared.

"He said as he was struggling with Bonboster, he told his girlfriend to get a knife, and as he was wrestling with Bonboster he heard the sounds of what sounded like someone being stabbed," he said.

Kasten said Bonboster was stabbed 19 times. "He said that evening they cleaned up the blood and then the next day after getting a night's sleep, they decided that the best route to cover up the murder was to dismember the body and to dispose of it," Kasten said.

Bonbosters family sat in court and listened to the witness statements. While they did not want to go on camera, they told me they will be at every hearing... fighting for justice for their son.

Madrid's 17-year-old girlfriend is booked into the Juvenile Justice Center and faces murder charges.

Madrid will be back in court in two weeks on December 22nd to be arraigned again.