Love Triangle in Auto-Theft Ring Led to Killing, Police Say

A love triangle involving two men and a woman in an auto-theft ring led one of the men to kill his former best friend, Los Angeles police said Friday.

Officers were looking for Manuel Rojas Balderama, 21.

Rojas shot Alberto Villarino, 18, twice in the head as the two drove with a third man in a stolen car, Police Lt. George Rock said.

Rojas dumped the body early Sunday in the 5000 block of San Feliciano Drive in Woodland Hills, police said. A witness saw the body dumped and reported it to police, who then questioned squatters in a nearby encampment of illegal aliens, Rock said.

That led police to the stolen car where the killing occurred, and police on Thursday arrested the third man who was in the car, Javier Ortiz, 31, of West Los Angeles on suspicion of murder, Rock said.

Rojas’ girlfriend, Patricia Venegas, was arrested Wednesday on an auto-theft warrant, Rock said. She was being held at Sybil Brand Institute for Women, he said.

Rock said that Villarino struck up a relationship with Venegas while Rojas was serving a prison sentence in Mexico in connection with the 1986 killing of a Mexican man in Hollywood.

Villarino later paid to have Rojas smuggled illegally across the border into the United States after Rojas’ release, and the two became involved in an auto-theft ring in Los Angeles, Rock said. But Rojas eventually learned that Villarino and Venegas were romantically involved, Rock said.

“The motive was the love triangle,” Rock said. “He shot the victim due to his jealousy.”