Garden Grove : Transient Arrested After Man Found Murdered

A 34-year-old Garden Grove man was found slain in a home and another man was arrested as he tried to flee the area by police who had gone to a neighborhood searching for a car believed involved in a hit-and-run crash in Seal Beach, authorities said Sunday.

Police Lt. Scott Hamilton identified the victim as Melvin Poon and said he had been stabbed. But Hamilton said he did not know the exact cause of Poon’s death, nor the results of an autopsy conducted Sunday.

Hamilton said David Jonasson, a 41-year-old transient, was arrested and booked into the Orange County Jail on suspicion of murder.

According to Hamilton, Seal Beach police, who had traced a car allegedly involved in the accident to a Casper Street address in Garden Grove, made a routine request Saturday for Garden Grove officers to go to the house.

After police had located the suspected car, Hamilton said, a man later identified as Jonasson was seen running from a nearby house. He was caught and detained for questioning by officers who, according to Hamilton, were told by neighbors that the car belonged to Poon, who had been seen recently. The neighbors also told police that Jonasson had been seen around Poon’s house.

Officers checking Poon’s house found him dead inside the home, Hamilton said.

A neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said Sunday that he believed Poon was single, employed as a paralegal and lived alone at the house. The neighbor said he believed the property is owned by someone named Jonasson.

Hamilton said he did not have any information about the owner of the house nor whether the victim and suspect knew each other.