A grand jury indictment unsealed Thursday has dragged a grisly Hollywood killing back into the spotlight, charging a 25-year-old Los Angeles man with murdering and dismembering his wife after her remains were found in a Hollywood apartment last fall. The defendant has pleaded not guilty and remains in custody as the case moves through the county court calendar, while friends and neighbors call the killing shocking and work to raise money to return the victim’s body to the U.K.
The indictment, unsealed April 2, names Jonathan Renteria and charges him with one count of murder and one count of mutilation/disinterment of human remains, along with a misdemeanor child-abuse count, according to MyNewsLA. Prosecutors say the grand-jury filing updates the case that was first brought after Renteria’s arrest last September.
How investigators say it unfolded
Investigators say the case broke open on Sept. 11, when Ventura County deputies were called to a Newbury Park motel and found a man in a bathtub with apparent wrist injuries and a note confessing to killing his wife; that man was later identified as Renteria, according to the Los Angeles Times. After that discovery, LAPD officers forced entry into the couple’s apartment on the 5300 block of Franklin Avenue in Hollywood, where they found the dismembered remains of 37-year-old June Bunyan, according to affidavits and court filings cited in coverage.
Victim remembered by friends
Bunyan, 37, had moved from the U.K. to Southern California to pursue a law career and left behind a one-month-old daughter, according to reporting and a fundraiser organized by friends. The GoFundMe and local coverage described her as having a “vibrant personality” and an “infectious laugh,” and said friends raised money to bring her body home, per ABC7.
Charges, bail, and the court calendar
Renteria pleaded not guilty to the grand-jury indictment when it was unsealed Thursday and was ordered held without bail, according to MyNewsLA. Prosecutors say he is due back at the downtown Los Angeles courthouse on June 2 for a pretrial hearing. The indictment adds a misdemeanor child-abuse count to the earlier murder and mutilation allegations, a change prosecutors noted on the updated charge sheet.
Neighbors and reaction
Neighbors told reporters that Bunyan had confided in them about problems in her relationship and that she had once sought legal protection, and one neighbor described the defendant as verbally abusive, according to ABC7. The killing has drawn attention in Bunyan’s native Scotland, where friends and family organized fundraisers to cover repatriation and funeral costs.
What to expect next
With the grand-jury indictment now public, the case is set to move through pretrial motions and hearings in Los Angeles County court before any trial date is scheduled. Court filings and the June hearing are likely to provide the next round of public details on prosecutors’ arguments and any defense response, with reporters continuing to draw on search-warrant affidavits and recorded interviews that first surfaced last fall in earlier coverage.
