PORT ANGELES — The trial of Robert Gene Covarrubias for first-degree murder has been continued to March 27.
It had been scheduled to begin Monday.
Covarrubias, 25, is accused of raping and strangling Melissa Leigh Carter, 15, who left a Dec. 23, 2004, party and was not seen again.
Carter’s body was found in a brushy hollow along the downtown Waterfront Trail in Port Angeles on Dec. 26, 2004.
Covarrubias was charged Feb. 16, 2005. Prosecutors are not pursuing the death penalty because they say they cannot prove premeditation in Carter’s killing.
Covarrubias is being held on $1 million bail in the Clallam County jail.
Because of threats against his life, he is being held alone in a cell.