Jadianna Larsen
SACRAMENTO — On Friday, March 4, Sacramento County prosecutors presented new allegations in Superior Court that the man responsible for killing a six-year-old girl in May of last year also sexually assaulted her.
The development is the latest in the case of Juan Rivera, 25, of Sacramento, who assaulted young Jadianna Larsen, killed her, and then drove with the body 90 miles to a rural field in Glenn County and set the body on fire.
On May 28, 2015, Sheriff investigators found the charred remains of the child and were able to determine that she had been killed with a blunt force instrument.
Rivera was arrested on May 29 on suspicion of murder and taken into custody. His mother, Lisa Burton, 47, was also taken into custody as an accessory after the fact. She was accused of a stealing a 2002 Ford Explorer that Rivera used to transport the child’s body to Glenn County.
Charges against Rivera include murder in addition to performing a lewd act on a child younger than 14, or that the child died after he committed or tried to commit a lewd and lascivious act.
Authorities said Rivera, who was the boyfriend of Jadianna’s mother, Tanecia Clark, was taking care of the child at her apartment complex while Clark was seeking mental health treatment.
Rivera called 911 on May 28 to report that Jadianna had vanished, but that he had no recollection of this because he was stricken with seizures.
Both Rivera and Burton remain at Sacramento County Main Jail. Rivera is being held without bail while Burton remains in custody in lieu of $200,000 bail. Both mother and son are scheduled to return on April 14, 2016, before Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Bowman, who is expected to set a date for a preliminary hearing.
