Pair Held in Strangulation of Huntington Beach Man
A man and a woman have been arrested in connection with the strangulation of a 24-year-old Huntington Beach resident.
A SWAT team surrounded the Costa Mesa apartment of Jeffrey Scott Smith, 23, and Stacey J. Coogan, 22, Tuesday night and arrested the pair in connection with the death of Mark Vernon Gesford.
On Dec. 22, Gesford’s body was found at a car that was parked on Hamilton Avenue near Newland Street in Huntington Beach. His feet were in the car, and the rest of his body was on the ground. A passerby called police.
Huntington Beach Police Lt. Luis Ochoa said the suspects knew Gesford and that he may have visited them at their apartment in the 100 block of East 18th Street in Costa Mesa the day before.
Police said they do not yet know why he was killed.
Smith was arrested on suspicion of murder and Coogan on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder. Both were held in Huntington Beach City Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail, Ochoa said.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the Huntington Beach police hot line at (714) 375-5066.
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