Suspect in Serial Killings Waives Extradition

A 23-year-old Pacific Beach man being held in a Las Vegas jail waived extradition at a court hearing Wednesday and is expected to return to San Diego to face questioning for possible involvement in the serial slayings of five women in Clairemont and University City.

Louis Angel Mandez did not contest the extradition request and is expected to arrive in San Diego within the required 10-day period, authorities said.

Although he is 6-foot-1, 175 pounds and white, Mandez was questioned by San Diego authorities in connection with the serial slayings after he was picked up early Sunday on Interstate 15 just south of Las Vegas.

Since the slaying of 18-year-old Holly Suzanne Tarr on April 3, San Diego police have described the serial-killing suspect as black, 5-foot-7 to 5-foot-10, with a trim to medium build and short-cropped dark hair.

Mandez was booked into a Las Vegas jail on suspicion of driving a stolen vehicle and for having raped a 22-year-old UC San Diego student in Pacific Beach on Saturday. A neighbor of the victim told police he matched the composite drawing of the man wanted for Tarr’s murder.

Lt. Gary Learn, the homicide agent heading the serial-killing task force, said he has “some doubts” about whether Mandez is the killer of the five women, slain in Clairemont and University City since Jan. 12, 1990.

Mandez returns to San Diego to face charges of rape, burglary and possession of a stolen vehicle, believed to be the Volkswagen Rabbit of the Pacific Beach woman raped on Saturday.

Learn said the woman was raped at knifepoint by an intruder who entered through a sliding-glass door left unlocked in the middle of the day. Because the case fits the pattern of the other five slayings, Mandez has been sought for further questioning, Learn said.