On May 3, a Los Angeles man was convicted by a Superior Court jury of the 2007 strangulation murder of a 15-year-old runaway in Hollywood.

Deputy District Attorney Samuel Hulefeld said the jury deliberated about a day and a half before convicting Gilton Beltrand Pitre of one count of first-degree murder and one count of unlawful sex with a minor under the age of 16.

Pitre, 38, faces multiple life prison terms when he returns to court for sentencing on June 3.

Hulefeld said Pitre strangled Alyssa Gomez in at room at the Olive Motel on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood sometime between June 3 and 4, 2007.  Her body was dumped in an alley about a mile away.

Evidence presented at trial showed the defendant approached the victim on the street the evening of June 3, 2007, and asked if they were going to “hang out.”  Hulefeld said Pitre checked into the motel under this own name.

Later, a surveillance camera showed him carrying something large and wrapped in a blanket from the motel and putting it into the trunk of his car.

The victim was found in the alley the morning of June 4, 2007, wrapped in the motel’s bedding.  DNA evidence recovered linked Pitre to the crime.

Los Angeles police arrested Pitre on July 18, 2007.  He was charged two days later and has remained in custody since his arrest.