Man Named in Fire That Killed Ex-Girlfriend, Infant

A Compton man was named Monday as a suspect in setting a gasoline fire that killed his former girlfriend and her 7-month-old son and injured five others in a Paramount apartment blaze.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials said that Melvin Orlando Elias, 24, is being sought to face two counts of murder, three counts of attempted murder and one count of arson in the early morning fire Nov. 21, the day before Thanksgiving.

Elias, a native of Honduras, is believed to have fled to Baja California, where a 1978 Pontiac belonging to his Compton roommate was recovered by State Judicial Police, Sheriff’s Deputy Rafael Estrada said.

Investigators believe that Elias climbed through a window or used a key to enter a two-bedroom, ground-floor apartment in the 7300 block of Petrol Street, where his former girlfriend, Martha Chavez, 24, and her son, Luis, were sleeping.

When county firefighters responded to the 2:48 a.m. alarm, they smelled a strong odor of gasoline in the apartment and found a three-gallon plastic container--still containing fuel--in the hallway outside the bedroom where Chavez and her son died, deputies said.

Residents told detectives that the woman and Elias had argued on numerous occasions and, about two weeks before the fire, she had ordered him to leave. When he departed, one of the survivors said, Elias threatened to kill Chavez, her son and himself.

Elias apparently is not the child’s father, Estrada said.

A resident of the apartment, Alva Lagos, 32, said she and her son, Antonio, 12, were in a separate bedroom when she awakened to screams coming from the other bedroom.

When she tried to enter the room to help, Lagos said, she was driven back by smoke and flames. She and her son were treated at the scene for smoke inhalation. Three others were hospitalized.

Angel Hernandez, 23, suffered burns over 75% of his body. He was taken to Charter Suburban Hospital in Paramount, then flown to Valley Medical Center in Fresno, where he remained in critical condition Monday.

Martha Lara, 30, was taken to Doctors Hospital in Lakewood, where she was out of the intensive care unit and in improved condition Monday. Carlos Lopez, 23, was discharged this weekend from Charter.