2 Fugitives Caught in Separate Murder Cases

Two men wanted in separate Van Nuys murders were arrested Friday after being traced to a courtroom in San Francisco and a prison in Tehachapi, Los Angeles police said.

John Beck, 23, was charged with the April 1 slaying of Jodie Bartmess, 21, a transient who was stabbed to death in a parking lot in the 16100 block of Hart Street, Detective Jim Vojtecky said.

Beck, who was a transient living in the Van Nuys area at the time of the slaying, was identified as a suspect through witnesses and other undisclosed evidence and arrested at Tehachapi State Prison, Vojtecky said. Bartmess was believed to have been killed during a dispute over drugs, the detective said.

After Beck was identified this week, detectives learned that he had been arrested shortly after the slaying for violating parole for burglary and was sentenced to the prison. He was transferred from the prison to Van Nuys Jail Friday and is scheduled to be arraigned on the murder charge Monday in Van Nuys Municipal Court, police said.

Police also announced the arrest of Antonio Godoy, 26, who had been sought since Jan. 28, 1989, in the slaying of Jose Delgadillo, 28, of Van Nuys. Delgadillo was shot to death during a dispute in a bar.

Godoy was identified as a suspect immediately after the slaying but fled. Vojtecky said the suspect was believed to have used aliases and lived in the Pasadena area and Mexico before moving to San Francisco.

He was arrested in San Francisco earlier this month on an unknown misdemeanor count, and a fingerprint check revealed his identity. When he arrived in court Friday for a hearing on his arrest, fugitive detectives arrested him in the slaying.