2 Arrested in Death of Woman Whose Body Was Found Feb. 3 in Ravine

Orange County Sheriff’s Department investigators arrested two Riverside County men Thursday in connection with the slaying of a woman whose body was found in the county in a shallow ravine near Ortega Highway earlier this year.

The arrests capped a two-month investigation and ended speculation that the death of Teresa Cacho, 20, of Riverside was linked to a murder spree involving at least 10 Riverside County women, many of them prostitutes, authorities said.

“That has been definitely ruled out,” said Lt. Richard J. Olson, Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman .

Kevin F. Henriques, 21, of Riverside and Brian S. Davidson, 20, of Corona were taken into custody Thursday morning after being under surveillance for a week, Olson said.

They are accused of conspiring to murder Cacho, Henriques’ ex-girlfriend, Olson said.

Cacho’s fully clothed body, which was rolled in a blanket, was found Feb. 3 by a hiker at the bottom of an embankment about 4 1/2 miles from Ortega Highway, officials said. The cause of death was found to be suffocation.

For more than two months, detectives could not identify the body, which was partly decomposed and bore no identification. On April 8, investigators using a fingerprint made a positive identification through a check with the Cal-ID computerized fingerprint system, Olson said.

That provided a number of leads, one of which was that Cacho was last seen in December by a friend. Officers built their case from information supplied by the friend.

“Investigators were able to start an intensive investigation into her background and the circumstances surrounding her disappearance,” Olson said.

On Wednesday, detectives staked out Davidson’s Corona home, arresting the construction worker at 10:10 p.m., Olson said. At 6:25 a.m. Thursday, Henriques was arrested at the grocery store where he worked.

Olson declined to say what led to the arrests, and he declined to suggest a motive.

“Things went so fast,” Olson said. “We are still working on the case.”

The two men, who are ex-roommates, are to be arraigned today in South Orange Municipal Court in Laguna Niguel.

Henriques was being held without bail, while Davidson was held in lieu of $250,000 bail. Deputy Dist. Atty. Bernadette Seymour, who is handling the case, said she had asked that Henriques be held without bail because he is considered a flight risk.

When asked if Henriques was considered to be the actual murderer, Seymour replied: “That would be a good inference.”