Defendant Accused of 'Lying in Wait' in Alleged Stabbing Death

An accused killer was lying in wait to intentionally take the life of an 18-year-old Murrieta girl, prosecutors alleged today.

William Gary Simpson, Jr., 19, pleaded not guilty Friday to a special allegation of lying in wait in the , which was added to the murder charge against him.

Simpson—who had lived with the Burke family up until about a year earlier—is accused of illegally entering their Milkwood Lane home in the early morning hours and stabbing Saskia multiple times in a bottom-floor living area of the two-story house. Murder in the commission of a robbery had already been added as a special allegation.

Simpson entered his latest plea while in court at in Murrieta for a scheduled eight-hour preliminary hearing, which was postponed to Aug. 10.

Judge Kelly L. Hansen granted the continuance requested by Simpson's defense attorneys, David Macher and O.G. Magno.

The defenders said they sought the continuance because they had been unable to access some new information presented in the case within the last 30 days.

In the event the hearing would have gone forward today, several detectives and officers from the Murrieta Police Department were on hand to testify, as were witnesses.

Saskia's family sat on one side of the courtroom accompanied by several supporters, while Simpson's family sat on the opposite side in a small group.

The slender, 6-foot-3 Simpson, who has been held since December at Southwest Detention Center on no bail, sat in the courtroom, grinning at times while in conversation with his attorneys.

A media request to photograph Simpson that had been previously approved was denied by the judge at the request of the defense.

No photos have been permitted since his arraignment.

Following the short court proceeding, Saskia's family was escorted down the hallway to the District Attorney's Office.

The if he is convicted.