Prelims begin in Hurst accessory case

BARSTOW • A 23-year-old Barstow woman accused of helping her friend hide the murder of his 30-year-old Barstow girlfriend started her preliminary hearing Wednesday.

Joyce Fransson is charged with six felonies, including unlawful taking or driving of a vehicle and five counts of being an accessory to murder after the fact. The charges stem from the disappearance and murder of Leisa Hurst on Jan. 22.  Jeami Chiapulis, whom police claim also had a relationship with Fransson — and is married as well — accepted a deal and pleaded guilty to the second degree murder of Hurst on Nov. 6.

Det. Keith Libby was the only witness called during the preliminary hearing.

Libby said that he interviewed Chiapulis at the West Valley Detention Center on November 23 after he was sentenced. During that interview Chiapulis said that he called Fransson after he killed Hurst, and the two planned how to dispose of her body, according to Libby. Chiapulis said they first abandoned Hurst’s Honda Element with the keys in it and the windows down on Olive Street in Hesperia, where police later recovered it, in an attempt to have it stolen on Jan. 22. Libby testified that Fransson admitted to recommending that Chiapulis leave the SUV on Olive Street.

Chiapulis told Libby they returned to his house after abandoning the car and loaded a trash can, containing Hurst’s body, into his car. Libby testified that they drove to a spot in the desert near the former Lake Dolores water park in Newberry Springs, and Fransson acted as a lookout as Chiapulis buried Hurst. Chiapulis said that Fransson helped put the body into the grave, and they believed her family owned the property where they buried her.

Libby testified that Fransson later admitted to going with Chiapulis to the grave, but said that she stayed in the car and didn’t know what was in the trash can.

Libby also said that during his investigation into Hurst’s disappearance he created a fake MySpace account, posing as a female friend of Chiapulis’, and contacted Fransson. Fransson told Libby’s MySpace persona that she was creating a story to tell during Chiapulis’ court hearings and that she shouldn’t have told the police about leaving Hurst’s SUV in Hesperia.

Fransson is now being held at the West Valley Detention Center on $300,000 bail. Her preliminary hearing is scheduled to continue at 8:30 a.m. Thursday at the Barstow courthouse.

Contact the writer:
(760) 256-4126 or dheldreth@desertdispatch.com