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Witness: Marines told me about killings

SAN DIEGO, June 18 (UPI) -- A former Marine testified that then-comrades described killing a sergeant and his wife in their home in Southern California.

Justin Weissinger, who was discharged from the Marines for drug use and is now being held on a burglary charge, was a witness Wednesday at a preliminary hearing for the four men charged with the killings, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. The defendants were also discharged after they were charged with murder.

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Weissinger, who has received immunity, admitted he and two of the group, Kevin Cox and Tyrone Miller, committed several burglaries in the months before Sgt. Jan Pietrzak and his wife, Quiana Jenkins-Pietrzak, were killed, the report said.

The victims, Weissinger and the accused killers were all stationed at Camp Pendleton.

Investigators say the couple were tortured and Jenkins-Pietrzak was raped before they were shot in the head. Weissinger testified Miller and Emrys John described the killings to him.

"Mr. Miller stated that he handed Mr. John the gun and told him to 'do them,'" Weissinger said.

The hearing is scheduled to resume June 30.

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