Man accused in 2-state killing spree to stand trial

MONTGOMERY CITY, Mo. -- A Mexican national suspected of killing five men in a two-state crime rampage will stand trial in Missouri, a judge ruled Thursday.

Pablo Antonio Serrano-Vitorino, 40, is accused of killing a Kansas City, Kansas, neighbor and three other men at the neighbor's home on March 7, then going about 170 miles into Missouri and killing Randy Nordman in New Florence, about 80 miles west of St. Louis, the following day.

Four law-enforcement officials, a medical examiner and a coroner testified at a preliminary hearing in Montgomery County, where Serrano-Vitorino is charged with first-degree murder, burglary and armed criminal action in Nordman's death.

Associate Circuit Judge Kelly Broniec ruled after the hearing there was enough evidence to move forward with a trial.

Arraignment was scheduled for June 1. Missouri prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Nordman's stepdaughter, Tasha Lawson, attended the hearing along with four relatives of the Kansas victims.

"I wanted to be here because I wanted to see the guy who took my dad from us and caused us as much pain as it did," Lawson, 26, said. "It actually hurt more to see him."

Serrano-Vitorino also is charged with four counts of first-degree murder in Kansas.

Authorities have not discussed a motive, though Wyandotte County, Kansas, District Attorney Jerome Gorman has said the Kansas killings did not appear to be drug-related.