Man Who Saved Actress Is Too Late This Time

The man who won national acclaim four years ago by rescuing actress Theresa Saldana from an attacker who stabbed her 10 times disarmed another stabbing suspect early Tuesday, authorities in Temple City said.

But this time, Jeffrey Fenn could not save the victim.

Fenn, 31, whose notoriety led him to leave his job as a water deliveryman to become a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy, was off duty about 3 a.m. when he saw a man carrying a knife running toward another who was trying to escape in a van, sheriff’s spokesman Bob Stoneman said.

But the van crashed in an alley in the 5800 block of Encinita Avenue. Fenn came out of a nearby home “and ordered the man to drop the knife,” Stoneman said. “He then held the suspect at gunpoint until deputies from the Temple City substation could arrive.”

The victim, whose name was withheld pending notification of next of kin, was taken to Arcadia Methodist Hospital, where he died of his wounds, officials said.

Stoneman said the suspect, Eddie Abeyta, 38, of Temple City, was booked for investigation of murder. The two men apparently had been drinking before they got into a fight, Stoneman said.