YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) - Police in Yakima say a 14-year-old girl was killed by a 22-year-old man to keep her from reporting she was raped.

The Yakima Herald-Republic reports Jesus Fabian Perales was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of first-degree murder. He made his first court appearance Wednesday.

Police say Perales slashed Francisca Hernandez-Ramirez's throat and left her to bleed to death next to an irrigation canal in October 2008. Her body was not discovered until February in the Yakima River and was identified by dental records.

Perales had left Yakima after the girl's death, but came back recently.

The Yakima County Sheriff's office says Perales and another man drove the girl to an orchard after finding her passed out at a party. In the car, the girl screamed she had been raped. Perales then allegedly killed her and threatened the other man.