POCATELLO — A trial date has been set for one of two California teenagers accused of conspiring to murder and then stabbing to death an elderly Pocatello woman in March.

Dustin Garrett Alfaro, 18, of Marysville, California, appeared in front of Judge Robert C. Naftz on Thursday for a status hearing at the Bannock County Courthouse during which the trial date in his potential capital murder case was set for March 3, 2020. 

Additionally, Naftz scheduled the same trial date for Alfaro’s felony injury to jail property charge, which was filed last month after Alfaro allegedly destroyed a sprinkler head inside his cell at the Bannock County Jail. 

Alfaro and his co-defendant, Isaac Angel Rodriguez-Romero, 17, also of Marysville, allegedly stabbed 87-year-old Arlyne Koehler to death inside her McKinley Avenue home in Pocatello eight months ago. 

Family members found Mrs. Koehler, who lived alone, dead inside her home on March 19.

Both teens were arrested on March 20 in California, less than 48 hours after Pocatello police held a press conference alerting the public about Mrs. Koehler’s murder.

The teens are accused of breaking into Mrs. Koehler’s home through a back window with the intent to burglarize her home, according to testimony from law enforcement during Alfaro’s preliminary hearing in September.

It didn’t appear as if anything was stolen from the home and Mrs. Koehler appeared to be sleeping when the teens allegedly stabbed her over 55 times, police testified.

Alfaro has been incarcerated at the Bannock County Jail since his arrest in March. Rodriguez-Romero is currently being held at the Sixth District Juvenile Detention Center in Pocatello. The teens are each being held on $1 million bonds.

Bannock County prosecutors have not yet determined whether or not they intend to seek the death penalty against Alfaro. Prosecutors cannot seek capital punishment against Rodriguez-Romero because he's a juvenile but he still faces the possibility of a life sentence if convicted of the charges against him. 

Rodriguez-Romero is due back at the courthouse for a status conference on Dec. 5. No trial date has yet been set in his case.