The 27-year-old man accused of killing a Valley Village man who was found dead inside his apartment earlier this year pleaded not guilty to his murder and to the murder of another person in 2022.

Erick Escamilla is charged with two counts each of murder and first-degree residential burglary stemming from the April 23 stabbing of Menashe Hidra at his Valley Village apartment and for the Aug. 2, 2022, killing of Ok Ja Kim at her Woodland Hills home.

The killing of Hidra sparked fear in the Valley Village neighborhood as police conducted a week-long manhunt for a suspect after the 53-year-old was found dead inside his Riverside Drive apartment complex.

According to the Los Angeles Police Department, the suspect got into Hidra's apartment by first breaking into the neighboring vacant

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