Two plead not guilty to murder of Riverside woman

SIGNONSANDIEGO NEWS SERVICES

2:59 p.m. August 15, 2007

RIVERSIDE – Two men pleaded not guilty Wednesday to murdering a Riverside woman whose wrapped body was discovered in an orange grove last month.

Nikolaus Ryan Meske, 27, and Ernesto Antonio Pena, 30, each face one count of first-degree murder in the death of 38-year-old Sherri Suzanne Moore.

The men, whose next court date is Aug. 24, entered their pleas before

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Janice McIntyre.

Moore's body was discovered by agricultural workers in the early morning hours of July 17 in a field in the Arlington Heights area. She was clothed, but had been wrapped in plastic.

Because there was no identification on the body, investigators publicly released photographs of several distinctive tattoos on her lower back and left ankle. The victim's ex-husband recognized the tattoos and contacted investigators. He told them that Moore divided her time between residences in Riverside and Highgrove, and no one had seen her for two days.

A week after Moore's body was found, Meske was arrested at the San Ysidro border crossing near San Diego, apparently while trying to re-enter the United States with false identification, according to Riverside police spokesman Steve Frasher.

He said federal agents also detained Meske for allegedly trying to smuggle Mexican nationals into the country illegally.

Pena and another man, Scott Stephen Hussey, 38, were arrested within a few days of Moore's murder. But investigators would not say why the two Riverside men were identified as suspects.

Hussey, who has not been charged in the case, was released from the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside on July 25.

Meske is being held without bail at RPDC, while Pena is being held in lieu of

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