Suspect held in Valley double-murder
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LAPD Mission Dets. Efren Gutierrez and Terrence Keyzer have cleared the double-murder case of Marvin Tobar, 21, and Renee Spata, 18, whose charred bodies were found inside a burning house at 10441 N. Danube Ave. in the northeast San Fernando Valley on Jan. 23.
The case was among the first to be listed on The Homicide Report. Tobar was an office worker for Time Warner, and Spata was a young woman he had been dating. The night they died, the couple had gone to a movie, then stopped by a rental house. Their bodies were later found there by police officers responding to flames.
Scheduled for arraignment this week in the case is Robert Valdez, 29, a Latino man who is accused of killing the pair during a crime spree. Gutierrez described Valdez as a police-documented gang member and ‘career criminal’ from Pacoima who had conducted a variety of robbery crimes in the days before and after the murders. He was already in custody when he was charged in the case, having been arrested March 31 after a high-profile police car chase. Subsequently, investigators say they uncovered evidence linking him to the killings. He faces double-murder charges and 22 other criminal counts.