Charges filed in 2001 Whittier murder case

WHITTIER -- A man was charged Friday with capital murder for the February 2001 disappearance and slaying of a 20-year-old Placentia woman at an apartment where he had lived in Whittier.
Christopher Michael McAmis is scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 30 in Whittier Superior Court in connection with the Feb. 17, 2001, killing of Lynsie Leigh Ekelund, according to a joint statement released by the Los Angeles County and Orange County district attorney's offices and Placentia Police Department.
The murder charge includes the special circumstance allegation of murder during the attempted commission of a rape, which could make him eligible for the death penalty if convicted.
Prosecutors will decide later whether to seek capital punishment against the 31-year-old Fullerton resident.
McAmis -- who allegedly befriended Ekelund in 2000 -- drove with her and two female friends to a nightclub in San Diego on Feb. 16, 2001, then dropped the two friends off at their residences early the next morning, according to the statement.
McAmis is accused of taking Ekelund back to his apartment in Whittier and trying to rape her, then murdering her and disposing of her body, which has never been found.
The woman's mother reported her missing on Feb. 19, 2001, in a case that eventually went cold.
The Placentia Police Department and an Orange County district attorney's task force aimed at catching killers, rapists and sexual offenders began jointly reviewing the case in 2008.
McAmis was arrested Wednesday at his home in Fullerton and remains jailed without bail.