Suspect Seized in Death of Girl Found in Griffith Park

A 27-year-old Garden Grove man, who police say posed as a schoolteacher to lure a Santa Ana schoolgirl into his car, was arrested outside his home this morning on suspicion of the girl’s slaying.

Jose Antonio Gonzalez was taken into custody at 9:45 a.m. and was being questioned at the Santa Ana Police Department in connection with the abduction, sexual molestation and strangulation of 9-year-old Nadia Puente. Her body was found stuffed in a trash can in Griffith Park on Tuesday morning.

Police Chief Paul M. Walters said teams of police officers worked 43 hours straight after Nadia’s abduction Monday and linked Gonzalez to the crime through a wealth of physical evidence.

Police would not release his photograph on advice of the district attorney’s office, but authorities said Gonzalez matched the description that witnesses gave of Nadia’s abductor: a Latino in his early to mid 30s with short, curly hair and a goatee. Gonzalez’s car also matches the description of a small gray car with a black stripe on the sides, as reported by witnesses, police said.

Police said they watched Gonzalez leave his apartment at 11750 Euclid St. this morning, get into his car and begin to drive away. They then stopped and arrested him, police said.

Gonzalez lives about four miles from where Nadia was abducted, near Diamond Elementary School.

Walters said Gonzalez posed as a schoolteacher when he stopped his car Monday afternoon and asked Nadia to help him.

“The fact that he alleged that he was a schoolteacher and wanted the girl to carry some books” seems to suggest that Nadia did not know him, Walters said.

Police said a number of other people were in Gonzalez’s apartment at the time of the arrest, but it was unclear whether they are linked to the case.

“There are other suspects, but they are very few--I’d say a handful,” Walters said, adding that police feel “very, very confident that this is the person that perpetrated this crime.”