Man pleads guilty to murdering woman on Carlsbad hiking trail when he was 17

A young man pleaded guilty Thursday to fatally stabbing a 68-year-old woman on a Carlsbad hiking trail when he was 17 years old.

The defendant, whose name is withheld because he was a minor at the time of the offense, admitted to a murder count filed against him in connection with the Nov. 23, 2020, death of Lisa Thorborg.

A San Diego County District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman said the defendant is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 1 in San Diego Juvenile Court.

Prosecutors previously indicated they would seek to try him as an adult, and a nearly two-week hearing on that issue was set to go forward next week.

During a hearing held in late 2020, a detective testified that the defendant’s DNA was found on Thorborg’s shorts, and that surveillance footage from the nearby area captured a boy resembling the defendant running away from the park about 15 minutes after police believe Thorborg was killed.

A pair of flip-flops believed to belong to the boy was found near the crime scene.

Surveillance footage and license-plate reader data also showed that the boy’s grandmother dropped him off near the park about an hour before the attack.

Police set up a camera in the park after Thorborg’s death that they said shows the boy on the trail on multiple occasions after Nov. 23, often barefoot and carrying flip-flops.

He was contacted by police in early December of that year and ran from officers, who took him into custody. A DNA sample was taken from him at the time of his arrest, according to police.

Police and prosecutors have not disclosed a suspected motive for the killing. Testimony indicated the victim was not robbed or sexually assaulted.