Garden Grove Man Seized in Kidnap-Killing of Nadia : He Posed as Teacher, Police Say

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.”

Police are exploring whether Nadia’s case is linked to the murder nearly two ago years of Patricia Lopez, who disappeared a little more than a half mile away from where Monday’s abduction occurred.

“There are similar situations surrounding the Patricia Lopez case and Nadia’s case,” said Capt. James L. Dittman. But, he said, there are also an equal number of dissimilarities. Both girls were Latinas and who were taken from similar locations by a male suspects who “lured them away from their normal paths.” But there are dissimilarities in the murder methods, he said.

Patricia was killed with blows to the head from a blunt object, while Nadia was strangled, police said.

At the Puente family home, more than 30 family members gathered to comfort Nadia’s parents on Tuesday.

Nadia’s parents do not have money for the burial, and the Bank of America has established a trust fund for contributions at its branch at 16192 Harbor Blvd., Santa Ana, Calif. 92704.