OXNARD : Police Now Think Train Killed Man

Two transients arrested last week on suspicion of murder have been released from custody because Oxnard police now say it is more likely that a 25-year-old laborer was accidentally killed last week by a train.

Horacio Rosales Prudente, 29, and Miguel Angel Jimenez Chavez, 23, were arrested Wednesday 13 hours after the body of Roberto Gonzales Ordonez was discovered lying near the tracks in an Oxnard railroad yard on East 5th Street, authorities said. Gonzales Ordonez, 25, had died of a broken neck.

The two men, who were released Thursday, remain suspects while police await results of crime lab tests, Police Sgt. Denny Phillips said.

Police were told that the two men had been seen drinking with Gonzales Ordonez before his death. They thought that the two might have knocked Gonzales Ordonez down then dragged his body toward the tracks.

But the investigation relied on circumstantial evidence, and police decided not to request prosecution, Phillips said.

Police found grease on the dead man’s face and neck, which indicates he was hit by part of a train as he lay near the tracks, probably breaking his neck. He may have been drunk and climbed near the railroad tracks, which are about 10 feet away from the abandoned warehouse that he lived beneath, Phillips said.