Pre-trial hearing pushed back for Kiwi suspect

The pre-trial hearing for the New Zealand man living out of a swanky Newport Beach hotel charged with possessing and selling drugs and questioned about the death of a woman found preserved in dry ice in his room has been pushed back to April 11, prosecutors said Thursday.

Stephen Royds, 46, was charged with possessing and selling cocaine. When detectives searched his room, they found the frozen body of Huntington Beach resident Monique Trepp, 33, Newport Beach police said.

Trepp had been dead for at least a few months and maybe up to a year, said District Atty. spokeswoman Susan Schroeder. County coroners said they are waiting for results from a toxicology report.

Royds’ preliminary hearing scheduled for next week has been pushed back pending the April 11 pre-trial hearing.

— Joseph Serna