Man sentenced in 2016 killing of Northern California teens

WOODLAND, Calif. (AP) — The last of four men convicted of killing a pair of California teenagers who vanished more than six years ago has been sentenced to 15 years to life in state prison.

The Sacramento Bee reported Jonathan Froste was sentenced Friday for the 2016 kidnapping and killing of the teens, whose bodies were never found despite years of effort.

Froste was among four people charged with killing 16-year-old Enrique Rios and his friend, 17-year-old Elijah Moore. He had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and testified against the other three defendants.

Prosecutors said Moore was killed in revenge after stealing 3 ounces (85 grams) of marijuana from three of the defendants.

Rios was shot and killed by David Froste, Jonathan’s brother, in October 2016 when he refused to call or provide a location for Moore, who was killed several weeks later, on Nov. 4, prosecutors said.

Moore was kidnapped while leaving a barber shop in Woodland, 15 miles (24 kilometers) northwest of Sacramento.

Prosecutors said he was forced into the trunk of a car and taken to Knights Landing on the Sacramento River, where he was bound and was denied pleas to call his mother and release him. He was beaten to death with tree branches, crushing his skull.

His body was then placed in a hole, burned and buried.

Shannon, Campos and the Froste brothers were arrested in 2018. Authorities tracked their locations and movements through cellphone data and social media activity.

David Froste, Shannon and Campos are serving life sentences.