A June trial date was set Tuesday for the suspect in the August 2024 homicide that left Annabelle Floren-Wyant, 18, dead north of Falcon in unincorporated El Paso County.
Jorge Meza-Alarcon Jr., 28, faces a single count of first-degree murder for allegedly killing Floren-Wyant in his residence in the 13000 block of Halleluiah Trail during the early morning hours of Aug. 1, 2024.
Meza-Alarcon appeared in a 4th Judicial District courtroom Tuesday from the custody of the El Paso County jail. During the brief hearing, the court scheduled his trial to start June 23.
Judge Dennis McGuire reserved eight days for trial, with both sides expecting to call their own witnesses to the stand.
According to Meza-Alarcon’s arrest affidavit, he previously admitted to the crime to detectives but argued self-defense in the teen’s murder.
During the investigation, a friend of Floren-Wyant’s reportedly told police that he dropped her off at Meza-Alarcon’s residence around 1 a.m. that night because Meza-Alarcon was a subscriber of hers on the social media platform Snapchat Premium, and she had come to “collect money” from him.
During an interview with police, Meza-Alarcon told a different story, saying that Floren-Wyant agreed to meet up with him to exchange money for sex. He initially said she had allegedly hit him with something like a phone when he went to pay her, causing him to black out.
After being allegedly hit, Meza-Alarcon said he put her in a leglock and transitioned to a jiu-jitsu chokehold, which resulted in her death, according to court records.
As of Tuesday, Meza-Alarcon remains in El Paso County jail with a bond set at over $500,000. His next appearance in court will be for his pretrial conference, set for May 26, to determine if both parties are ready for trial.
Meza-Alarcon has two other open cases, court records show. According to Gazette news partner KOAA, one of the open cases is regarding allegations that Meza-Alarcon killed a dog in February 2024 and threw the body into a dumpster at an apartment complex in Colorado Springs. The other is an assault case from 2023 with strangulation charges.