Suspect Wanted in Slaying of Real Estate Agent Surrenders

A sandwich delivery man accused of killing a real estate agent at a Coldwater Canyon home during an open house last week surrendered to Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies on Thursday, officials said.

Authorities said Anthony Rodriguez Pacheco, 34, was accompanied by about six family members when he turned himself in at the Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles about 5:45 p.m.

“I’ve never experienced anything quite like this before,” said Deputy Rudi Acevedo, who said Pacheco walked up to the counter of the jail’s inmate reception center and announced, “There is a warrant out for my arrest.”

The deputy said Pacheco was a little nervous and that his relatives were teary-eyed and hugged him before he was taken away.

Pacheco was being sought as a suspect in the murder of real estate agent Elaine Siegel, 48, of West Los Angeles, who was found stabbed and strangled July 14 at a house in the 2400 block of Coldwater Canyon Drive.

Police said Pacheco, of Inglewood, apparently was admitted to the house by Siegel a few minutes before she was killed.

Pacheco, who earlier served a four-year prison term for second-degree murder in Ventura County, may have planned to rob the house in Coldwater Canyon and used the sandwiches as a ploy to get in, detectives said. Police said Pacheco was tied to the crime by physical evidence but would not elaborate.

Lt. Ron Hall credited publicity with persuading Pacheco to surrender, saying, “I’m sure a lot of people he knows, who have seen his picture on television and in the newspapers, had something to do with it.”