The Los Angeles Post

Ex-boyfriend murdered El Cajon teen arrested

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PHOENIX, Az. – The ex-boyfriend of Kiera Bergman, a 19-year-old El Cajon woman whose body was found in Arizona, is facing charges in her murder, Phoenix police said Tuesday.

Police investigators developed probable cause to recommend charges of first-degree murder, improper removal of a body and evidence tampering against 23-year-old Jon Christopher Clark for the murder of Kiera Bergman.

Kiera Bergman went missing Aug. 4. She was last seen near her Phoenix home, police there said. Last week, a dirt biker found her remains near state Route 85 in the community of Buckeye, roughly 50 miles from her home.

Her boyfriend, 23-year-old Jon Christopher Clark, was arrested in connection with Bergman’s disappearance Tuesday.

Clark was already behind bars, arrested last month on unrelated felony charges of identity theft. Clark is expected to face the judge Tuesday evening in the Bergman case.

Both Bergman and Clark moved from East San Diego County to Arizona earlier this year. The highway near where her remains were found is a common road for travelers to take between Phoenix and San Diego.

Bergman’s cousin Jessica Carstens said last week that when the Valhalla High graduate went missing, authorities had found her keys, wallet, credit cards and purse at her home.

In mid-August, the Arizona Republic reported that during the search for the missing woman, police had uncovered evidence that led them to arrest Clark on suspicion of forgery and identity theft, charges unrelated to Bergman’s death.

The day before his arrest, the paper published an interview with Clark, in which he said police had questioned him for hours about Bergman’s disappearance.

Carstens started a GoFundMe page in August to help pay for Bergman’s family to travel to Arizona to search for the young woman. The account has raised more than $23,000.

That money will now help pay for the costs of bringing Bergman back to California — she had moved to Arizona earlier this year — as well as her funeral.

There is also a Facebook page that someone created to get the word out regarding the search for her. The most recent post is a news report of Clark’s arrest.