Chief District Judge Robert Fairchild on Tuesday ordered that the man charged with first-degree murder in the homicide of a 19-year-old woman at the Cedarwood Apartments last year must wear a GPS monitoring system if he posts bond.

The prosecutor in the case said she had heard that the man, Lawrence resident Rontarus Washington Jr., 18, could be a flight risk.

Rontarus Washington Jr.

Washington is charged in the death of Altamirano Mosso, of Lawrence. According to an affidavit justifying his arrest, Washington lived down the hall from Altamirano Mosso at the time of her death and was charged after investigators found Washington’s fingerprint on the bottom of a broken toilet tank lid believed to have been used in the homicide.

Assistant District Attorney C.J. Rieg said that a courthouse employee claimed to have overheard a conversation between Washington’s girlfriend and another woman saying they could “take him to the border and then this case will go away.”

Washington’s girlfriend, Alexus Sanders, told the Journal-World the conversation had been in reference to her concern that Felipe Cantu Ruiz, Altamirano Mosso’s ex-lover, would leave the country. Last week, the defense claimed that evidence suggests Cantu Ruiz is the “real killer” and asked Fairchild to order him to appear for Washington’s July 9 preliminary hearing.

Sanders said she was unaware of any plans to post Washington’s $750,000 bond.

Both defense attorney Sarah Swain and District Attorney Charles Branson have asked to be notified by the KBI if pieces of evidence will be consumed during forensic testing. Consumption during testing can occur when there is a small amount of evidence and the entire item must be used to reach a conclusion.

Swain said she wanted to be aware of possible evidence consumption because she plans to pay for private testing of the evidence after the KBI has finished.

Swain also asked Fairchild Tuesday to order the KBI not to destroy any evidence that did not meet their threshold for testing so she would “have the opportunity to test (the evidence) on (her) own.” Rieg told the court Tuesday that the order was not necessary because the KBI does not destroy evidence.

“This is a baseless allegation,” Rieg said. “If they did anything the defense is claiming they’re doing, they would lose their accreditation and not be able to testify.”

Washington is in the Douglas County Jail. He is scheduled to appear next in court on July 9.