BUCKEYE, Ariz. — A 28-year-old man has been arrested in the 2019 choking death of a woman whose body was found partly buried in the desert on the outskirts of metro Phoenix.
Buckeye police said Joshua Escoto-Cisneros of Phoenix was arrested Tuesday following an investigation during which police obtained search warrants for data from his cellphone and that of the victim, Marisa Bell.
Bell's body was located on April 10, 2019 after being spotted by hikers. She had been living in Phoenix but was from Nevada and had been reported missing by the Fallon Police Department, Buckeye police said.
According to police, investigators used cellphone data to learn that Bell and Escoto-Cisneros had texted the night of March 4 to arrange a meeting for paid sex and that he had been in the area where they allegedly met.
Police said Escoto-Cisneros and Bell were "very casual acquaintances” and that he acknowledged killing her after becoming angry during their encounter.
Escoto-Cisneros appeared in court Tuesday night and was ordered held in lieu of $1 million bond on suspicion of crimes that included second-degree murder, tampering with evidence and abandoning a body.
Online court records don't list a defense attorney for Escoto-Cisneros who could comment on his behalf.
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