A New Jersey man went on trail Friday for being accused of killing five missing teenagers in 1978 in what was one of the state's longest-running cold cases, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Lee Evans, long suspected of the murders of 17-year-olds Melvin Pittman and Ernest Taylor and 16-year-olds Alvin Turner, Randy Johnson and Michael McDowell, was only one of two suspects charged in the case.
According to the Huffington Post, Evan's cousin, Philander Johnson pleaded guilty 10 months earlier to murdering the five teenagers and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Johnson, who is expected to testify against Evans, told police that he and Evans lured the teens into an abandoned house in Newark, then locked them inside and set the house on fire because they suspected them of stealing their marijuana, the Huffington Post reported.
If convicted, Lee faces five counts of felony murder and five counts of murder.
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