Man, Woman Held in Slaying of Her Husband

An El Monte woman and her boyfriend were arrested after her husband’s body was found wrapped in a plastic trash bag in a San Gabriel Valley canyon, authorities said Sunday.

Conrado Venegas, 42, was shot in the head and chest Friday afternoon as he slept in his El Monte home, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy David Peltz said.

A bicyclist saw a man throwing what appeared to be a new trash can over the side of Turnbull Canyon Road at mile marker 210 Saturday morning, deputies said. The cyclist noted the license plate number on the man’s station wagon and climbed down the side of the canyon, where he found the body, authorities said.

Later Saturday, deputies stopped a station wagon with the matching license plate and ultimately arrested the victim’s wife, Lorraine Venegas, 28, and Ernesto Sandoval, 29, of El Monte, Peltz said.

They are being held without bail. Investigators believe that Venegas asked her boyfriend, Sandoval, to shoot her husband, Peltz said.

Venegas’ death was one of at least 15 in the county between 6 p.m. Friday and Sunday evening. The toll of violence included the following incidents.

* Marco Espericueta was shot to death and six other men were wounded Saturday at a taco stand in Florence, authorities said. Several men at the Las Islipas taco stand in the 5900 block of Hooper Avenue started arguing and began shooting at each other, Peltz said.

* In Industry, Antonio Malchor, 36, of Rosemead was shot to death in front of his wife and two children on Saturday, authorities said. Malchor stopped his pickup at Gale and Stimson avenues, when a car carrying four men in their 20s pulled up. One of the men walked over to punch Malchor in the face through the truck’s window on the driver’s side.

Before Malchor could drive away, Peltz said, a passenger in the car fired one shot into his head.

* In South El Monte, Felix Padilla, 45, was stabbed to death during an attempted robbery, investigators said. He was walking home at 2 a.m. Saturday when he was attacked. His body was found in the 2100 block of Merced Avenue.

* Pomona police reported that Eric Worsham, 17, of Ontario was found fatally wounded on a sidewalk at 3:24 a.m. Sunday. He had been shot in the head and was taken to Pomona Valley Community Hospital, where he died.

* In Boyle Heights, a man died when he was shot in the head in a gang attack Saturday, investigators said.

* A 14-year-old boy died Saturday after being shot during what appeared to be a gang-related attack in Los Angeles, police said. The teen-ager, an alleged gang member, was shot in the forehead Friday in the 800 block of South Union Avenue in the Westlake area, police said.

* Two men were fatally shot during an argument outside a South-Central Los Angeles party attended by about 100 people, but police said there were no witnesses to the killings. Robert Welch, 28, and Erme Jacos, 27, attended the gathering in the 1200 block of West 37th Street, Sgt. Tony O’Brien said.

* In Wilmington, an unidentified man in his late 20s or early 30s was shot dead while standing on Wilmington Boulevard. A gunman and three other suspected gang members arrived in a car and opened fire at him, police said.