Police Arrest Suspect in Man’s Slaying : Crime: The stabbing victim is found slumped over his steering wheel in a parking lot in Orange. The motive is not known.
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ORANGE — Less than 14 hours after the body of 22-year-old Roberto Cruz Cruz was discovered slumped over his steering wheel, detectives arrested an acquaintance of his in connection with the slaying.
Alfredo Valencia, who has a 15-year criminal history and had just gotten off parole, was arrested Thursday at his home, less than two miles from Cruz’s home.
Police suspect Valencia of stabbing Cruz repeatedly in the torso about 9 p.m. Wednesday, but they do not know why, Sgt. Barry Weinstein said.
“When we arrived at the scene, we basically had nothing but a dead body and a car,” Weinstein said. “Detectives stayed up around the clock. Through interviews and tracking down physical evidence in the car and at the suspect’s home and piecing it all together, they were able to make an arrest.”
Employees working the night shift at Quality Aluminum in the 800 block of North Cypress Street saw a car with lights on in their parking lot and went out to investigate at 1:45 a.m. Thursday. They discovered Cruz’s body.
“No one actually saw the crime but people saw the suspect, people saw the victim and people saw the suspect and the victim together,” Weinstein said. “For our investigation, it really went well as far as a whodunit type thing.”
Weinstein said a knife found in Valencia’s home is believed to be the weapon.
Valencia had been off of “intense parole supervision” for a grand theft conviction for only three weeks, state Department of Corrections authorities said Friday.
“We classified him as extremely dangerous requiring supervision,” said Victor Penuelas, supervisor of the department’s Anaheim office.
Penuelas said Valencia has an “extensive arrest history encompassing a 13-page rap sheet” for various offenses, the most serious being armed robbery. He was last sent to prison for a parole violation and was released in October, 1992. Penuelas said the suspect had been on parole for the maximum allowable period of four years.
Cruz, who was single, worked as a silk screener in Santa Ana and lived with roommates, Weinstein said.
Valencia is being held at Orange County Jail for suspicion of murder.
The stabbing was the fourth homicide to occur in Orange so far this year.
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