Jeweler Found Dead Near Spilled Cyanide Powder : Sun Valley: The deadly poison forces police to close a four-block stretch of Vineland Avenue to traffic and evacuate the apartment complex.

A Sun Valley apartment house manager and part-time jeweler was found dead Tuesday next to half a pound of cyanide powder, a deadly poison that investigators said apparently killed him when it spilled as he used it to work on jewelry.

The dangerous cyanide spill caused Los Angeles police to close a four-block stretch of Vineland Avenue to traffic and evacuate the apartment complex for several hours. Los Angeles Fire Department hazardous materials experts put 27 people, including firefighters and police officers, through a decontamination process to ensure they were free of the poisonous powder.

Authorities did not make public the name of the dead man, but a supervisor for the company that managed the building at 7525 Vineland Ave. and friends and residents identified him as Fernando Espinoza, 30.

He sometimes used cyanide--the chemical used to create the gas employed to execute prisoners in California and other states--in making silver and gold rings, bracelets and necklaces, friends and neighbors said.

“He apparently was working in the supply room when he died,” Coroner’s Investigator Robert Fierro said. “We think that is where he worked on jewelry.”

Friends said he had lived in the complex as the on-site manager for about a year with his wife, Marta, and three young children. The friends said the couple had recently separated and his body was discovered when his wife, children and another couple went to the apartment building to visit him.

“I saw him lying on the floor. . . . He was out,” said Luis Cepeda, one of the visitors.

Los Angeles firefighters and police were called to the apartment building at 1:45 p.m. after receiving calls for help. They arrived at about the same time and entered the first-floor supply room, where they found the manager face up on the floor, officials said. A large amount of white powder was spread across a nearby countertop, next to a can labeled “cyanide” in Spanish.

Battalion Fire Chief Robert MacMillan said the rescuers backed out of the apartment after determining the man was dead and called hazardous materials experts, because an accidental mixture of cyanide powder and water would create a deadly gas, like that used in the gas chamber.

As the investigation of the death was delayed for hours, firefighters checked about 40 evacuees for signs of illness due to exposure to the chemical.

The city’s hazardous materials unit set up a curtained rinsing area where 16 residents, six police officers and five firefighters were stripped and washed down as a precaution because they had either been in the supply room or were close to it. The hazardous materials unit took custody of their clothes for examination, and the runoff water was collected for disposal elsewhere.

Espinoza’s body was wrapped in plastic before it was removed by coroner’s investigators. They said there was not enough cyanide residue on the body to require on-site decontamination.

Residents of the apartment described the manager as a friendly man who had improved building maintenance in the year or more that he lived there. They said that in addition to making jewelry, he also was a part-time disc jockey who provided music at weddings and other social events. He stored his recording and stereo equipment in the supply room and often played music while making jewelry, they said.

“He used to sell jewelry to everyone who lived there,” said Yuri Hurtado, 15, a resident of the apartment building. “He used to talk to everybody a lot and he was always smiling.”

Cyanide combined with other chemicals has varying uses in making jewelry. Potassium cyanide and sodium cyanide are used for cleaning jewelry and are legal to buy for home-based businesses. Other forms of cyanide are used in silver plating.

Mary Bloom, who works for the building’s owner, said she spoke with Espinoza by telephone Monday night.

“I’m surprised this could happen,” she said. “He’s been working with those chemicals for years.”

Espinoza’s jewelry, which he designed himself, was popular, Bloom said. He made her daughter’s wedding ring, she said.

“He said he learned jewelry-making from an old man in Tijuana,” Bloom said. “He was so talented.”

Juanito Cammaney, 25, who lives in the apartment next to the supply room, said he often noticed the smell of chemicals coming from there. He was not at home Tuesday afternoon when the manager was overcome and died.

“I had a feeling that something bad could happen,” Cammaney said. “I used to wonder.”

Times staff writer Michael Connelly contributed to this report.