Jury selection begins again in Funderburg murder trial

After a failed start last month, the first-degree murder trial of a Colorado Springs man suspected of kidnapping and killing the mother of his son began with jury selection today.

Salvator Esquivel-Castillo, 36, could be sentenced to life in prison without parole if he's convicted of the murder and kidnapping charges in the July 2007 death of Jaclyn Funderburg, 22, of Colorado Springs.

Funderburg had an infant son with Esquivel-Castillo, but was attempting to break off the relationship, according to friends and family. She was reported missing July 11, 2007 and she was last seen getting into Esquivel-Castillo's car, according to witnesses.

He was arrested the next day on suspicion of breaking her jaw on May 27, 2007.

Funderburg's battered body was found 11 days later at the base of a cliff southeast of Marksheffel   Road and Space   Village Avenue - near a mobile home park where Esquivel-Castillo lived with another woman.

The trial started last month, but was halted mid-jury selection by 4th Judicial District Judge David Shakes after prosecutors failed to give defense attorneys an expert's report until the day before trial. Though deputy public defenders Cindy Jones and Michelle Newell asked for the evidence to be tossed, Shakes ruled delaying the trial was a more appropriate remedy.

The expert's report came from a botanist who analyzed plant material found in Esquivel-Castillo's washing machine and on the bottom of his car. The same plants were found on the cliff where Funderburg's body was found, the expert discovered.

Colorado Springs police investigators also found blood matching Funderburg's in the trunk of Esquivel-Castillo's car.

Shakes has previously ruled jurors will be allowed to hear that Esquivel-Castillo was suspected of breaking Funderburg's jaw, an injury that required her jaw to be wired shut.

Esquivel-Castillo has pleaded not-guilty and is being held without bond at the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center.