MOORPARK : Detectives Seek Clues to Laborer’s Killing

Investigators said Wednesday they are trying to retrace the activities of a Moorpark day laborer found beaten to death early this week, in the hope that pinpointing what occurred during the victim’s final hours may lead them to his killer.

Ventura County sheriff’s Lt. Kathy Kemp said detectives had been able to retrace some of the victim’s movements the day before he was found dead but were still investigating the events of his final hours.

Felix Martinez Ruiz, 51, was found in an orange orchard near Lassen and Cornett avenues about 6:15 a.m. Monday by pickers arriving for work. An autopsy revealed he had been killed by blows to the head with a blunt object, which has not been recovered.

Kemp said that Ruiz had lived in the Moorpark area for about three years and had recently returned from a three-month visit to Mexico, where his wife lives. He had been back in Moorpark about two weeks, working as a day laborer, at the time of his killing.

She said evidence suggests that Ruiz was drinking in the orchard before he was killed and that robbery may have been a motive, since no wallet or money were found on the body. Family members told authorities that Ruiz could have had $100 to $200 at the time he was killed.

The Sheriff’s Department is asking anyone who may have seen the victim around the time of his death to call Kemp at 654-2349.