A medical examiner will be allowed to testify at the upcoming murder trial of Luis Toledo, the Deltona man charged in the 2013 killing of his wife and her two children.
A hearing Thursday determined whether evidence should be admitted into Toledo’s trial.
Toledo faces a second-degree murder charge in the death of his wife, Yessenia Suarez, and two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her two children in 2013.
State prosecutor Ed Davis told the court that Toledo told investigators he knew where the bodies of Suarez's children, Michael and Thalia Otto, were lying inside the house. The three vanished in October 2013 and are presumed dead.
The hearing was also to determine whether the medical examiner should be permitted to testify. The state argued that the medical examiner could offer details on the deaths based on the information Toledo gave to investigators.
During the state’s argument about the medical examiner, Suarez's mother broke down and left the courtroom.
Judge Raul Zambrano moved to permit the medical examiner’s testimony.
Jury selection for Toledo’s trial will begin later this month. Last month, a judge ruled to move Toledo's trial to St. Augustine.
The bodies of Yessenia Suarez and her 2 children, 8-year-old Michael Otto and 9-year-old Thalia Otto, have not been found.