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COSTA MESA : Son Held in Slayings of Mother, 1 Man

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An unemployed man was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of shooting to death his mother and her boyfriend in New Mexico, police said.

Karl Sanchez, 26, of Grants, N.M., surrendered without a struggle about 2:45 a.m. after police surrounded a two-story apartment in the 300 block of Cabrillo Street where he was staying with a friend.

Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Ron Smith said officers located Sanchez after a phone call from police in Grants, about 75 miles west of Albuquerque, N.M.

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Grants Police Lt. Steve Bell said the bodies of Priscilla Sanchez, 57, and her boyfriend, Juan Sanchez, 65, were found in the mother’s home about 9 p.m. Monday. They appeared to have been dead three or four days, he said.

Shortly after the bodies were found, Grants police located an informant who reported that Karl Sanchez might have fled to Costa Mesa, where he has a friend, Bell said.

“We’re confident we got the right person. We’re not sure of a motive yet, but we believe Karl was upset, very upset, with his mother.”

The two occupants of the apartment where Karl Sanchez was located were not arrested and appeared to be unaware that Sanchez was a suspect in a double homicide, Smith said.

Extradition proceedings are pending for Sanchez.

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