{"id":381413,"date":"2026-07-01T00:12:49","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T00:12:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/381413\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T00:12:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T00:12:49","slug":"father-charged-in-genesis-matas-death-set-for-september-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/381413\/","title":{"rendered":"Father charged in Genesis Mata&#8217;s death set for September trial"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 The father charged in connection with the <a href=\"https:\/\/bakersfieldnow.com\/news\/local\/8-year-old-girl-found-dead-in-bakersfield-hotel-bathtub-two-arrested\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">torture and death of his 8-year-old daughter<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/bakersfieldnow.com\/search?find=Genesis%20Mata\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Genesis Mata<\/a>, is scheduled to go to trial later this year.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"KBAK\/KBFX{p}{\/p}\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/e745426b-f547-4ce7-a198-5fd810ca1819-Sequence_MILLS_MATABUSTAMONTEPREPRE_0001_frame_3102.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>PREVIOUS REPORTING: <a href=\"https:\/\/bakersfieldnow.com\/news\/local\/judge-finds-ray-mata-jr-competent-to-stand-trial-in-genesis-matas-death\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Judge finds Ray Mata Jr. competent to stand trial in Genesis Mata&#8217;s death<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/bakersfieldnow.com\/search?find=Ray%20Mata%20Jr.%20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Ray Mata Jr. <\/a>and his co-defendant and stepmother, <a href=\"https:\/\/bakersfieldnow.com\/search?find=Graciela+Bustamonte\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Graciela Bustamonte<\/a>, were given a September 21 trial date during a hearing today. Both have pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"KBAK\/KBFX\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/93e95d48-c7e1-4c3b-99b7-183610c37f01-Sequence_MILLS_MATABUSTAMONTEPREPRE_0001_frame_4699.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Mata Jr. was found competent to stand trial in late April. He is due to appear in court on Sept. 10 for a readiness hearing.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A death investigation is underway after a body was discovered inside the La Quinta Inn in central Bakersfield, according to the Bakersfield Police Department. This is a photo of the crime scene on August 2, 2025. PHOTO: KBAK\/KBFX\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/337d67ae-32e6-4ac0-a5f4-96a8ca71f571-Image21.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>A death investigation is underway after a body was discovered inside the La Quinta Inn in central Bakersfield, according to the Bakersfield Police Department. This is a photo of the crime scene on August 2, 2025. PHOTO: KBAK\/KBFX<\/p>\n<p>Comment with Bubbles<\/p>\n<p>BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT<\/p>\n<p>Genesis was found dead last August in a La Quinta motel bathtub on Riverside Drive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 The father charged in connection with the torture and death of his 8-year-old daughter,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86818,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-381413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}