Woman’s Ex-Boyfriend Held in Man’s Slaying

A Fontana man who had been separated from the mother of his five children for the last year has been arrested in the shooting death of the woman’s new boyfriend, police said Monday.

*

Ysrael Cordova, 35, was arrested Sunday on suspicion of murder in the death of Paul Rivas, 31.

Rebecca Cruz, who lived with Cordova for 13 years and bore him four daughters and a son, said she watched helplessly as Cordova shot Rivas twice at point-blank range when the two men confronted each other in her apartment.

In an interview, she said that Cordova also threatened to kill her, but that she managed to escape to her mother’s nearby home after she and Cordova scuffled for the handgun. In the past, she said, Cordova had made similar threats against other members of her family, whom he blamed for the breakup of their common-law marriage.

Rebecca Cruz’s mother, Mona Cruz, said that in the hours between the 4:30 a.m. Sunday shooting and Cordova’s arrest that night, she received more than 20 threatening phone calls from him, which she said she taped.

“He said, ‘I’ll kill you next,’ ” she recounted. “The reason . . . is because you’re the mother of (Rebecca), and I want to see you cry like your daughter cried.”

Rebecca Cruz, 30, said she pleaded tearfully for her life after she witnessed the slaying of Rivas. She said that Cordova broke into her apartment on East Park Lane and that Rivas confronted him with a baseball bat before he was shot, first in the temple and then execution-style in the back of the head.

Despite Cordova’s arrest, Rebecca Cruz went into hiding Monday, fearing for her life.

Cruz said her 13-year relationship with Cordova was marked by fights and abuse. In their breakup last year, she said Cordova got custody of the two oldest daughters, age 9 and 12, and she was awarded the three youngest, whose ages range from 2 to 5.

Cruz said she and Rivas, who has two school-age children of his own, had been dating for the past year.

Anaheim Police Sgt. Steve Rodig said officers had gone to the residence several times in the past on “domestic violence” calls involving Cordova. He did not elaborate, citing the pending investigation.

“He has beaten me up; he has threatened my family,” Rebecca Cruz said. “I have told the police; I have asked for their help. They said they could do nothing. And now he has killed Paul.”

About three months ago, Mona Cruz said, Cordova rammed his car into her car in anger. Around the same time, Cordova also dumped a mixture of cement and paint on Rivas’ car, the Cruz women said.

Last year, Cordova started a fire in Rebecca Cruz’s apartment in Fullerton. No one was hurt, and shortly afterward Rebecca Cruz sought a temporary restraining order to keep Cordova at a distance from her and her family, she said.

Mona Cruz, 53, said she also complained to police about Cordova last year after he assaulted her. She also told police she had taped Cordova’s threatening telephone calls, but was told the conversations were hearsay and therefore could not be used. Anaheim Police declined to comment.

The mother said Cordova blamed the family for his estrangement from her daughter. “He thinks that we came between him and my daughter. We helped my daughter. I got her this apartment (in Anaheim) because I didn’t want her to depend on him. So he hates me and all of us.”

Mona and Rebecca Cruz and other members of their family said they would fear for their lives if Cordova were free.

He was jailed after his arrest, and his bail was set at $250,000. Rodig said police will try to keep him in custody and would oppose any move to reduce his bail.

He is scheduled to be arraigned today in Municipal Court in Fullerton.