Police Have Leads in 2 of 4 Murders

Authorities Tuesday questioned suspects in two of four homicides that occurred over the Memorial Day weekend but were still attempting to identify two of the victims.

A 17-year-old youth was taken into custody on suspicion of murder Tuesday, and Garden Grove officers were seeking other suspects in the beating and fatal stabbing of a Chino man.

Rey David Ramirez, 19, died in Fountain Valley Community Hospital, where friends had taken him Monday night, Sgt. Bruce Beauchamp said.

Ramirez, who had lived in Santa Ana until several months ago, and his companions were stopped at a traffic signal at Euclid Street and Acacia Parkway, Beauchamp said, when they got into an altercation with several men in a white pickup truck. Ramirez was dragged from the car, beaten and stabbed.

In Santa Ana, police said they were questioning a suspect in the beating death of a man who was found unconscious and badly beaten in the 1200 block of S. Shelton Street Monday night. The man, described as between 25 and 40 with no identification, died at 1:30 a.m. in Western Medical Center.

Santa Ana police also said they were still attempting to identify the body of a girl who was attacked with a hatchet or machete and dumped alongside the Santa Ana River sometime late Sunday or early Monday.

The girl was described as a Latino 14 to 18 years old, 5 feet 6 and 105 pounds with dark brown, shoulder-length hair.

The body of Bridgett Lee LaMon, 19, of Anaheim, was discovered behind an industrial building in the 5400 block of East La Palma Avenue, Anaheim. She had been beaten to death.