Pubdate: Fri, 10 Dec 2004
Source: Tucson Citizen (AZ)
Copyright: 2004 Tucson Citizen
Contact:  http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/461
Author: David L. Teibel, Tucson Citizen
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

FATAL HOME INVASION TIED TO POT STASH

Cops Believe Marijuana Was The Motive For The Intruders, Who Shot To Death 
Maria Lucia Corella. Her Husband Is Arrested On Drug Charges.

Police suspect that intruders who shot and killed a woman in her Southwest 
Side home yesterday morning were there to steal marijuana that was stashed 
around the house.

Eduardo Corella, 47, whose wife, Maria Lucia Corella, 41, was killed, was 
arrested just hours after the home invasion on a charge of possession of 
marijuana for sale, according to a Tucson Police Department news release.

"Homicide detectives now believe the motive for the home invasion was 
robbery with the intent to steal the marijuana," police spokesman Sgt. 
Marco Borboa said.

Eduardo Corella was arrested around dawn yesterday after detectives found a 
"substantial amount" of marijuana while searching his home, on West 
Nebraska Street near South 12th Avenue and West Irvington Road, according 
to authorities.

Detective Sgt. Mark Fuller, head of the homicide detail, would not say how 
much marijuana was found. He said it was in various places on the property, 
including in the home, behind a wall in the yard and in a storage shed.

Corella, who told Pima County Jail officers he is a construction worker, 
was held without bail, pending an initial court appearance last night.

The men involved in the shooting have not been found.

Maria Corella was shot in her bedroom after at least two gunmen forced 
their way into her home through a side door shortly after midnight, Fuller 
said.

Eduardo Corella, along with the couple's sons, ages 18 and 10, and Maria 
Corella's mother, were in the home at the time. They were not harmed, 
Fuller said.

He would not say whether Maria Corella was the target of the intruders or 
if she was hit by a stray bullet or bullets.

After the shooting, the intruders ran out the same side door, Fuller said.

He did not know how they fled the area.

Family members told detectives they did not know the intruders, Borboa said.

Fuller said he was withholding some details of the shooting as the 
investigation continues. Investigators would not release descriptions of 
the intruders.

They asked that anyone with information about the killing call 911 or the 
Pima County Attorney's Office's anonymous tipster line, 88-CRIME.
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