Man to be tried in girl’s killing

Officials said Thursday they will try Victor Manuel Garcia, who is accused of killing a 16-year-old Costa Mesa girl in 2001, as an adult even though he was 17 at the time of the girl’s death.

Garcia, 22, will be arraigned this morning in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana. He is the first person to be extradited from Mexico to face murder charges for a crime allegedly committed as a juvenile, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.

The victim, 16-year-old Ceceline Godsoe, was found beaten to death in Fairview Park on Sept. 21, 2001. Police said at the time that fingerprint evidence led them to Garcia, who left Costa Mesa for Mexico. He was extradited in December 2004 after his 2003 arrest in Mexico City on assault charges.