A 24‑year‑old Saipan man accused of fatally striking a woman near CHCC early Saturday was ordered held on $100,000 cash bail after appearing in Superior Court on Monday.
Delvin Elieisar Rios was charged with second‑degree murder, vehicular homicide, domestic violence, assault with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery, and DUI in connection with the auto‑pedestrian fatality that left a 32‑year‑old woman dead.
Associate Judge Teresa Kim‑Tenorio appointed assistant public defender Emily Thomsen to represent Rios, a Commonwealth Utilities Corporation welder. Assistant Attorney General Heather Barcinas appeared for the government and asked the court to maintain the $100,000 bail.
Police were dispatched at 3:41 a.m. Saturday to a reported hit‑and‑run in front of Paradise Hotel in Garapan. Officers found the woman unresponsive and covered in blood, with Rios on top of her. Both were taken to CHCC, where the woman was pronounced dead.
Investigators said Rios showed signs of intoxication and that witness video captured an altercation between him and the woman outside his pickup. Police later found the truck crashed into a fence with blood and skin tissue on the right front tire frame.
Rios initially claimed both he and the woman were struck by another vehicle, but investigators determined he was responsible for hitting the victim. He was first arrested for DUI and released, then arrested again as additional evidence emerged.
