Photo via Pixabay

Four men convicted of the kidnapping and murder of a man who was dumped in Long Beach were sentenced Wednesday to 16 years to life in state prison.

Superior Court Judge James Otto imposed the term on Jose Duenas, 23; Rafael Bravo, 25; Bravo’s cousin, Christopher Arevalo Ramirez, 24; and Rafael Antonio Portales, 25.

They were convicted July 25 of the second-degree murder and kidnapping of Hector Jauregui Campos.

The 24-year-old victim was an acquaintance of Duenas, Ramirez and Bravo, but authorities never determined a definitive motive for the attack, according to Deputy District Attorney Paul Guthrie.

Campos was at a home in Mira Loma in Riverside County with Duenas, Ramirez and Bravo when he was shot in the back of the head and struck on the head with a sledgehammer on Sept. 7, 2012, authorities said.

An eyewitness reported that Duenas and Ramirez then began beating Campos in the middle of the street, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Duenas and Ramirez then loaded the victim in a car and drove to Long Beach, while Bravo took the victim’s truck and dumped it in Pomona, the prosecutor said.

Once in Long Beach, Duenas, Ramirez and Portales began beating Campos before Duenas choked him with a shirt, according to Guthrie.

The three men beat Campos’ limp body before loading him in the trunk of a vehicle, according to a witness who wrote down the license plate number and notified police.

Ramirez and Portales drove to an alleyway where Campos was pulled out of the truck, shot in the head a second time and left for dead, the prosecutor said.

Campos was taken to a hospital, where he died a day later.

–City News Service 

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California Supreme Court building. Photo via Wikimedia Commons

The California Supreme Court refused Wednesday to hear the case of a man convicted of murdering his live-in girlfriend with a sword in front of her four children in Lancaster.

The state’s highest court denied a defense petition seeking review of the case against Jesus Humberto Canales, who was found guilty last year of first-degree murder for the July 12, 2008, stabbing death of Lucy Preciado.

In June, a three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the defense’s contention that there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction.

The appellate court justices found in their June 1 ruling that the evidence “supports an inference of long-term planning activity and targeting of Lucy,” noting that the two had argued for a lengthy period the night the 26- year-old woman was killed.

“With Canales looming above her, Lucy warned Canales that he would regret it, giving him additional time to make the ‘cold, calculated judgment’ to strike her face and then lift the sword above his head and stab her in the chest and back,” the panel wrote in a 16-page ruling. “Canales testified that he was under the influence of methamphetamine and didn’t know what he was doing when he retrieved the sword and killed Lucy, but the jury was entitled not to believe his testimony.”

The appellate court justices also found that “the two stab wounds inflicted from above are consistent with a deliberate slaying rather than an indiscriminate frenzy, and evince a calculated and deliberate design to kill.”

“… Further, Canales’ behavior after he stabbed Lucy was not consistent with horror, emotion or remorse, and does not suggest a lack of a plan to kill,” the panel added, noting that Canales paused only to get his wallet and push the woman’s 9-year-old daughter onto the couch before driving away.

He left the children to “call 911, pull the sword out of Lucy’s back, and deal with the sheriff’s and paramedics,” according to the panel.

Along with murder, jurors convicted Canales of four counts of child abuse involving the children, who were between 7 months old and 9 years old at the time.

The children — three of whom the couple had together — were left unattended at the scene with their dying mother, according to Deputy District Attorney Seth Carmack, who prosecuted Canales.

Preciado’s then-9-year-old daughter called 911 to plead for help for her mother, telling a 911 operator that she didn’t want her mom to die.

Canales was subsequently profiled on the television show “America’s Most Wanted: America Fights Back.”

The El Salvador native managed to elude capture until homicide detectives developed information that he might be in a small town in the Jalisco, Mexico, area. He was detained in November 2013 by Mexican authorities, handed over to the U.S. Marshals Service, flown back to Los Angeles County and tried last year in Lancaster.

Canales is serving a 36-year-to-life sentence in state prison.

–City News Service 

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Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

A 59-year-old man was convicted Wednesday of murdering his girlfriend — who wrote his initials in her own blood — in her Beverly Hills apartment nearly five years ago.

Jurors found James Duane Grzeslo guilty of first-degree murder for the Oct. 26, 2011 killing of Cathy Carrasco-Zanini, according to Deputy District Attorney Keri Modder.

The jury also found true an allegation that Grzeslo used a knife during the commission of the crime.

While the 58-year-old woman was dying, she crawled down a hallway and wrote the defendant’s initials — JG — in her own blood, the prosecutor said.

Authorities were summoned to the woman’s apartment in the 100 block of North Hamilton Drive after Grzeslo told a therapist that he was having nightmares that he had killed the woman, the prosecutor said. Her throat had been slit.

The couple had been having problems and were going to therapy together, Modder said.

“I think the evidence was overwhelming,” the prosecutor said of the case against Grzeslo.

Grzeslo — who acted as his own attorney during the trial — is facing 26 years to life in state prison. He is set to be sentenced Sept. 19 at the Airport Branch Courthouse in Los Angeles.

–City News Service

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Photo by John Schreiber.

A man on death row for a Palmdale woman’s killing pleaded guilty Thursday to strangling another woman in her South Los Angeles home more than three decades ago.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lisa B. Lench immediately sentenced James Robert Scott, 53, to life in prison without parole for killing Vivian Johnson, 40, who was found dead Nov. 29, 1982, inside her home in the 3900 block of Welland Avenue in Leimert Park, according to Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller.

Along with his plea to a first-degree murder charge, Scott admitted the special circumstance allegations of murder during the course of a rape and murder with a prior conviction for murder, the prosecutor said.

Los Angeles police said in 2014 that Scott was linked to Johnson’s killing through DNA evidence collected at the crime scene.

At the time of his arrest in connection with Johnson’s killing, Scott was on death row for Wanda Jensen’s murder, according to the prosecutor.

Scott struck Jensen on the head with a baseball bat, raped, beat and choked her into unconsciousness on her bed, then set the bed on fire before leaving her Palmdale apartment on April 22, 1986, according to a 1997 California Supreme Court ruling upholding his conviction.

Jensen — who suffered burns over 35 percent of her body — died in February 1987 as a result of her injuries, according to the Supreme Court’s ruling.

He had pleaded guilty in 1983 to assault with a deadly weapon involving a knife attack on a woman who managed to escape from her home, and a 1986 rape of another woman, according to the ruling.

–City News Service 

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Abdullah Abdullatif Alkadi in an undated photo. Photo courtesy Los Angeles Police Department

A Long Beach man was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing a Cal State Northridge student from Saudi Arabia who had placed an online advertisement about a car he was trying to sell.

Agustin Rosendo Fernandez, now 30, was convicted June 9 of first-degree murder for the stabbing death of Abdullah Abdullatif Alkadi, whose body was discovered along a freeway in Palm Desert in 2014.

A Long Beach man was sentenced today to life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing a Cal State Northridge student from Saudi Arabia who had placed an online advertisement about a car he was trying to sell.

Agustin Rosendo Fernandez, now 30, was convicted June 9 of first-degree murder for the stabbing death of Abdullah Abdullatif Alkadi, whose body was discovered along a freeway in Palm Desert in 2014.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Hayden Zacky said Fernandez killed an innocent young student in a “planned and premeditated” attack, then “callously” disposed of the body.

His dumping of Alkadi’s body “shows a cold, callous and malicious heart,” Zacky said.

In addition to the murder conviction, jurors also found true the special circumstance allegations that the 23-year-old engineering student was murdered during the commission of a robbery and carjacking, along with an allegation that Fernandez used a knife as a deadly weapon.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office opted not to seek the death penalty against Fernandez.

Alkadi disappeared Sept. 17, 2014, from his home near the college campus. His body was found about a month later along Interstate 10 east of Cook Street, about 40 miles east of the Beaumont location where Alkadi’s cell phone had last been used just before being deactivated, authorities said.

Alkadi listed his 2011 Audi for sale in an online advertisement for $36,500, and he agreed to sell the car to Fernandez for $35,000 after an initial meeting with him, according to a sentencing memorandum filed by Deputy District Attorney Cynthia Barnes.

“When the defendant went to pick up the Audi he killed Alkadi so he could keep both the Audi and the money,” the prosecutor wrote. “He was eventually arrested and confessed to the homicide.”

The car was found parked at Fernandez’ apartment in the 6800 block of Long Beach Boulevard, authorities said.

Fernandez has remained in jail since his arrest in October 2014.

Shortly after Fernandez was taken into custody, Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck cautioned the public to take precautions when placing or responding to online ads.

“The investigation determined that Agustin Fernandez killed Mr. Alkadi in an attempt to keep both the Audi and the purchase price,” the police chief said. “The message for the public here is that you have to beware when using online Internet sites to sell anything. Craigslist, eBay, all the other opportunities for sales are also opportunities to let unwanted people into your lives.”

—Staff and wire reports

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Photo by Gustavo Castillo [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Covina resident Issac Urena, 20, appears to have been shot dead during a robbery which occurred after a meeting was arraigned on Offerup, a popular online marketing app, according to Covina police Sgt. Gregg Peterson.

The shooting was reported at 11:50 a.m. Saturday in the 800 block of West San Bernardino Road, Peterson said.

It was not clear whether the shooter was the would-be customer or whether the shooting was random.

Police did not disclose what type of property was being sold in the transaction. “After the shooting, the victim’s friend drove away from the location and into the parking lot of Faith Community Church in the city of West Covina,” Peterson said. Urena was pronounced dead at the scene. Overnight detectives served two search warrants related to the shooting. Adam Hernandez, 21, and another man were arrested after a search warrant was served at a home in the 1400 block of North Armel Drive. The second man was later released with no charges pending at this time, Peterson said.

Hernandez was booked on suspicion of murder and robbery, and was being held in lieu of $2 million bail.

A second search warrant was served at a residence in the 1200 block of North O’Malley Avenue. At that location, Christopher Avila, 20, was booked on suspicion of murder and was being held in lieu of $2 million bail.

Hernandez and Avila were being housed at the Covina jail, pending their arraignment at Citrus Superior Court on Tuesday, Peterson said.

Anyone with information about the shooting was asked to call detectives at (626) 384-5628 or the watch commander at (626) 384-5665.

–City News Service

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Photo via Pixabay

A 19-year-old Santa Ana gang member who allegedly opened fire on officers responding to a domestic dispute was charged Tuesday with attempted murder and assault counts.

Oscar Freddie Torres was set to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon on two counts each of attempted murder on a peace officer and assault with a weapon not a firearm on police and a single count of grossly negligent discharge of a firearm, all felonies.

Torres, who police described as a “self-admitted/documented gang member,” also faces multiple sentencing enhancement allegations for gang activity and the personal use of a gun.

Police were called to a residence in the 400 block of South Hesperian Street just before 4:45 p.m. Saturday to handle a “family disturbance,” according to Santa Ana police.

When officers arrived, Torres allegedly opened fire in their direction multiple times, but they did not return fire and escaped injury, police said. Torres ran away, but was later arrested at his nearby residence.

–City News Service 

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Carina Mancera, 26, and her daughter, Jennabel Anaya. via Long Beach Police Department Facebook page.

The Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved a $20,000 reward — an amount expected to be matched by the city of Long Beach — for information leading to the gunman who shot a mother and her 4-year-old daughter in Long Beach.

Supervisor Don Knabe recommended the county reward, saying investigators had gotten few calls from the public, despite pleas for witnesses to come forward.

“I would just appeal to anyone out there with any knowledge,” Knabe said, urging residents to bring “this cold-blooded murderer to justice.”

The Long Beach City Council is expected to vote tonight to offer a $20,000 reward.

Carina Mancera, 26, and her daughter, Jennabel Anaya, were killed around 10:20 p.m. Aug. 6 at East Ninth Street and Locust Avenue.

Jennabel Anaya, via Long Beach Police Department Facebook page.

Police said the victims and the child’s father, Luis Anaya, were walking to their nearby residence after a shopping excursion when gunfire rang out.

Luis Anaya told investigators that a man walked up to his longtime girlfriend and their daughter and suddenly — and without provocation — opened fire, then ran off.

A GoFundMe page set up to help the family cover funeral expenses had raised more than $38,000 as of midday today.

“Our family is heartbroken with this tragic event, and we hope that you can help us in this time of need,” the family’s message reads.

Knabe asked anyone with information on the shooting to call Detective Terri Hubert or Sgt. Robert Woods at (562) 570-7244.

–City News Service 

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An example of a dog. Not the dog from the story. Via wikimedia Commons

A Lancaster man, who allegedly struck a dog with his car and then shot the animal’s owner after being asked to pay for the injured canine’s veterinary care, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a murder charge.

Demonte Antone Thomas, 29, is charged in the June 26, 2015, killing of 22-year-old Michael Davis.

Thomas allegedly struck Davis’ dog with a car, then pulled out a handgun and shot the young man upon being asked to pay for the vet bill, according to testimony presented at an Aug. 1 hearing in which Thomas was ordered to stand trial.

Thomas, who has been jailed in lieu of $3 million bail since his Jan. 3 arrest, is due back in a Lancaster courtroom Oct. 5 for a pretrial hearing.

He could face up to 40 years to life in state prison if convicted as charged, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

–City News Service 

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via Sheriff’s Information Bureau

Authorities Tuesday arrested the ex-boyfriend of a 16- year-old girl who was fatally stabbed in her Pico Rivera home last Friday.

Rory Murga, 17, was taken into custody about 7:35 this morning in Pico Rivera and was booked on suspicion of murder in the death of Elena Moore, said Deputy Juanita Navarro-Suarez of the Sheriff’s Information Bureau.

Patrolling deputies spotted Murga under a railroad underpass at Rosemead Boulevard and Slauson Avenue, Navarro-Suarez said. He was taken to Pico Rivera Station for booking, and will be taken to a juvenile detention facility where he will be held without bail, she said.

“The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department would like to thank the public for the several tips received, which prompted deputies to search the surrounding Rosemead Boulevard and Slauson Avenue area,” Navarro-Suarez said.

On Friday about 3:15 a.m., deputies were dispatched to the victim’s home in the 9800 block of Shade Lane on a 911 call of a stabbing. She died at the scene.

“Detectives learned that the victim’s mother was suddenly (awakened) by her daughter’s screams that she had been stabbed as she staggered into her bedroom and collapsed,” Deputy Guillermina Saldana said.

“The victim was downstairs in her home when the suspect entered the residence through the back door,” Saldana said. “The stabbing occurred, and she ran upstairs to her mother’s bedroom.”

The suspect apparently entered the home through the back door, Saldana said.

“It is unknown if the suspect was allowed into the residence by the victim or if he forced his way in,” Saldana said.

Information from the girl’s mother pointed to the teen’s former boyfriend as the suspect, and sheriff’s investigators announced later that day that they were looking for Murga.

The pair broke up about two weeks before the killing, after dating for about a year, according to the sheriff’s department.

–City News Service 

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The Ronald Regan State Building in downtown Los Angeles and home to the 2nd District Court of Appeals. Photo by John Schreiber.

A state appeals court panel upheld a man’s conviction for a series of stabbings — one of them fatal — that targeted homeless victims in Hollywood seven years ago.

In a ruling Monday, the three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the defense’s contention that there was substantial evidence that Domingo Rodas was not competent to stand trial.

The appellate court justices found that the record showed that Rodas “understood the nature of the criminal proceedings and could assist counsel in the conduct of a defense in a rational manner.”

Rodas was sent to a state mental hospital in 2012 after it was deemed that he was not mentally competent to stand trial, but he was sent back for trial after being found mentally competent in 2013, according to the 19-page ruling.

Rodas was convicted in March 2014 of first-degree murder for fatally stabbing Keith Fallin as the 43-year-old man slept outside outside the Music Box Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard on Aug. 6, 2009.

Jurors found true the special circumstance allegation of murder while lying in wait.

He was also found guilty of attempted murder for attacks on two other men the same day.

Jurors acquitted Rodas of two other killings — the stabbing death of 52- year-old Roger Cota, who was killed a few blocks from Fallin on the same afternoon and the death of Frederic Lombardo, 45, who was found dead about three weeks earlier on the same block as Fallin was killed.

–City News Service 

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via Sheriff’s Information Bureau

A 17-year-old boy charged with fatally stabbing his 16- year-old ex-girlfriend in her Pico Rivera home while her mother slept upstairs was ordered Thursday to remain in custody in lieu of $2 million bail while awaiting arraignment.

Rory Murga of Pico Rivera is being prosecuted as an adult. He made his initial court appearance in Downey on a murder charge stemming from last Friday’s killing of Elena Lillian Moore, but did not enter a plea.

Murga, whose arraignment was rescheduled to Sept. 8 at the Norwalk courthouse, could face up to 26 years to life in state prison if convicted, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

The teens had been involved in a relationship for about a year, but the victim had broken up with Murga two weeks before she was killed, according to prosecutors and detectives.

Murga allegedly stabbed his former girlfriend multiple times before fleeing from her home in the 9800 block of Shade Lane. The mortally wounded girl made it upstairs, where her mother was awakened by her daughter’s screams and called 911.

The girl died at the scene. Information provided by her mother pointed to the teen’s former boyfriend as the suspect, and sheriff’s deputies announced later that day that they were looking for Murga.

He was taken into custody about 7:35 a.m. Tuesday after patrolling deputies spotted him under a railroad underpass at Rosemead Boulevard and Slauson Avenue.

–City News Service 

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Official taxi vehicle seal in Los Angeles, Oct. 4, 2011. By KennethHan (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Najib Halibi, 34, a resident of Los Angeles County, was arrested about 3:15 p.m Wednesday in the area of Avalon Boulevard and the San Diego (405) Freeway, according to Lt. Chris Ramirez of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Media Relations Section.

Halibi was booked on suspicion of murder and was being held in lieu of $2 million, according to Ramirez and sheriff’s online inmate records.

Police were dispatched at 3:06 a.m. Sunday to the gas station in the area of Franklin Avenue and North Beachwood Drive in response to an assault with a deadly weapon call, said Officer Scott Danielson of the LAPD’s Hollywood Station.

The cab driver, identified in news reports as Afsawosen Alemseged, stopped at a gas station, where both he and his passenger got out of the vehicle, police said.

The taxi driver got into a fight with the passenger and was pushed to the ground, where he hit his head on the pavement, according to Danielson.

Paramedics rushed him to an area hospital, where he died from his injuries, the officer said.

Police had described the victim, whose name has not been released by authorities, as 45-50 years old.

–City News Service

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MyNewsLA.com Photo

Two people were arrested Friday in connection with a fatal stabbing near the Huntington Beach Central Library just after midnight, police said.

The victim, a 37-year-old Huntington Beach man whose name was not immediately released, was stabbed during a fight, according to Huntington Beach police Officer Jennifer Marlatt.

Police were called to the scene about 12:30 a.m., where they found the victim bleeding near the library at 7111 Talbert Ave., Marlatt said.

The victim was taken to an area hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

A group was hanging out in a parking lot of the library when two males got into a scuffle and during the fight, the victim was stabbed, Marlatt said.

It was not immediately clear if the victim and his suspected killer knew each other, according to Marlatt.

Brandon Hicks, 27, of Huntington Beach and a 17-year-old girl from Huntington Beach later were booked on suspicion of murder, Marlatt said.

Anyone who witnessed the conflict or has other relevant information was asked to call police at (714) 375-5066. Anonymous tips may be left with the Orange County Crime Stoppers organization at (855) TIP-OCCS.

–City News Service

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Murder victim Asifawosen Alemseged on a recording label. Photo via neoblack.com

A Lakewood man accused in the beating death of a taxi driver and recording artist who was attacked at a Hollywood gas station appeared in court Monday but did not enter a plea.

Najib Halibi is being held without bail while awaiting arraignment in connection with the attack on Asfawosen Alemseged, who had worked for Yellow Cab for 24 years. Speaking today through an interpreter, Halibi agreed to postpone his arraignment to Sept. 6.

The murder charge includes the special circumstance allegation of murder during the commission of a robbery. Prosecutors will decide later whether to seek the death penalty against the 34-year-old defendant.

According to a statement issued by Yellow Cab, the 47-year-old victim was well-known in his native Ethiopia as an actor, singer and poet.

Halibi allegedly got out of the taxi, reached back inside the vehicle, grabbed Alemseged, went through his pockets and beat the cabbie after the driver got out of the vehicle shortly after 3 a.m. Aug. 14.

Police were dispatched to the gas station in the area of Franklin Avenue and North Beachwood Drive in response to an assault with a deadly weapon call, said Officer Scott Danielson of the LAPD’s Hollywood Station.

Alemseged was rushed to an area hospital, where he died from his injuries.

Halibi was arrested about 3:15 p.m. last Wednesday in the area of Avalon Boulevard and the San Diego (405) Freeway, according to Los Angeles police.

—City News Service

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Photo via Pixabay

A Northern California man accused of deliberately ramming a Los Angeles Police Department motorcycle officer with his truck and then leaving the scene was charged Monday with assault and attempted murder.

Philip Newlyn, 28, of Elk Grove, was due to be arraigned in a San Fernando courtroom Monday on one felony count each of attempted murder of a peace officer and assault of a peace officer, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

The officer escaped serious injury in the crash, which occurred about 9:30 a.m. last Wednesday on the southbound Golden State (5) Freeway north of Hasley Canyon Road.

According to the CHP, the 28-year LAPD veteran was on his way to work on a department motorcycle when he was hit from behind by a full-sized, white pickup truck that left the scene.

The uniformed officer suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to a hospital, where he was treated and released, according to the CHP and LAPD.

“We have no doubt this was an intentional act,” CHP Capt. Edward Krusey said last week.

–City News Service 

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Photo via Shutterstock

A convicted child sex offender was ordered Monday to stand trial on double murder charges in the deaths of two 6-year-old boys in 1981 and 1986.

Kenneth Kasten Rasmuson, 54, was arrested in March 2015 in Sandpoint, Idaho, after a DNA hit allegedly linked him to the July 2, 1981, killing of a boy identified in the criminal complaint as “Jeffrey.”

The victim’s body was found in Pomona by construction workers a day after he left his Anaheim Hills home to go to a fireworks stand, authorities said.

While Rasmuson was waiting trial on that count, prosecutors added a second capital murder count stemming from the April 8, 1986, death of a boy identified in the criminal complaint as “Miguel.”

His body was found in a wash in Agoura Hills the day he disappeared from outside his home, according to prosecutors. DNA evidence also links Rasmuson to Miguel’s killing, prosecutors allege.

The murder counts include the special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and that the boys were killed during the commission of a lewd or lascivious act on a child.

Rasmuson was held to answer on all counts as well as the special circumstance allegations.

The District Attorney’s Office will decide later whether to seek the death penalty against Rasmuson, who has a 1981 conviction from Santa Barbara County for sodomy of a person under 14.

Rasmuson is being held without bail and due to return to court for arraignment on Sept. 13.

–City News Service 

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Photo via Pixabay

A Duarte man who allegedly gunned down a neighbor after an argument at a party was charged Tuesday with murder and other counts.

Luis Santillan Valdes, 40, is scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 13 in an Alhambra courtroom in connection with Gabriel Alejandro De La Torre’s killing.

The 35-year-old victim was shot to death last Friday evening in the 2100 block of Broach Avenue.

Witnesses told Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies that the two lived on the same lot in two separate residences and began to argue at a party. The suspect allegedly returned with a handgun and fired multiple rounds at De La Torre before fleeing.

Sheriff’s deputies spotted a white Toyota truck that matched the description given by witnesses as the getaway vehicle, and arrested Valdes after a brief pursuit that ended at the Azusa off-ramp of the eastbound Foothill (210) Freeway.

Valdes is charged with one count each of murder, attempted murder and fleeing a pursuing peace officer’s motor vehicle while driving, along with five counts of assault with a deadly weapon.

–City News Service

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Photo via Pixabay

A gang member avoided a potential death sentence in pleading guilty Thursday to the 2008 murder of a man who was holding a toddler when he was gunned down in the Cypress Park area of Los Angeles and the killing of a cellmate three years later.

Jose Angel Gomez, 27, will be sentenced Nov. 18 to two consecutive life prison terms without the possibility of parole.

Gomez pleaded guilty to the Feb. 21, 2008, killing of Marco Salas, who was carrying his 2-year-old step-granddaughter when he was killed near Aragon Avenue Elementary School, along with the strangulation of Jonathan Najera in the Men’s Central Jail sometime between Feb. 28 and March 1, 2011.

Gomez also admitted the special circumstance allegation that the killings were carried out while he was an active participant in a criminal street gang, and to further the activities of the gang.

He had been awaiting trial next month in connection with Salas’ killing, along with the death of Daniel Leon, a gang member who was fatally wounded by police during a shootout soon after Salas’ shooting. The murder charge involving Leon’s death is expected to be dismissed as a result of his plea.

Gomez had been awaiting trial separately in connection with the jail killing, in which several other inmates are also charged.

One of Gomez’s attorneys, Christopher Chaney, called it a “good settlement” and the “right disposition.”

Co-defendant Rafael Carrillo was convicted in December 2013 of first- degree murder for Salas’ killing, but was acquitted of murder involving Leon’s death.

In January, a state appellate court panel rejected Carrillo’s contention that there were errors in his trial, and the California Supreme Court refused in April to review the case against him.

–City News Service 

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The starved body of an 11-year-old boy was found stashed in his mom’s closet and the mother was charged Thursday with murder and child abuse.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Sergio C. Tapia II ordered Veronica Aguilar, 39, to be held in jail on $2 million bail while awaiting arraignment Sept. 8 on one count each of murder and child abuse resulting in death.

The body of her son, Yonatan Daniel Aguilar, was found Monday afternoon by his stepfather, wrapped in a blanket in a closet of their Echo Park residence in the 2100 block of Santa Ynez Street.

The boy allegedly died due to neglect and showed severe signs of malnutrition, according to prosecutors.

Jose Pinzon said his wife, arrested Tuesday, told him her son was dead before Pinzon found the body and called 911, according to police.

If convicted as charged, she could face up to 15 years to life in state prison, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

The Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services received reports of possible abuse regarding the boy at least three times between 2009 and 2012, Capt. Julian Melendez, commanding officer of the LAPD Juvenile Division, told the Los Angeles Times.

Melendez did not have details of the police department’s response but said any evidence of injury or sexual abuse would have triggered an investigation by Juvenile Division detectives. He added that he did not believe any police investigation was ever launched.

Armand Montiel, a DCFS spokesman, told The Times that “the law does not allow us to confirm or deny whether we provided any services to this child or family.”

The child had not attended classes in the Los Angeles Unified School District since 2012 and was thought to have possibly been in Mexico for some time, Melendez told the newspaper.

Investigators are trying to find the child’s biological father as part of their investigation.

–City News Service 

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