VAN NUYS : Man Pleads Innocent to November Slaying
A Panorama City man who had been hunted by police for nearly three months before surrendering this week pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in a Van Nuys courtroom Wednesday to charges that he murdered a 22-year-old man in November.
Victor Fuller Jordan, 29, turned himself in Tuesday afternoon after breaking several earlier promises to police that he would surrender to be booked on suspicion of murdering Benito Ozaeta of Panorama City, Los Angeles Police Detective Stephen Fiske said. Ozaeta was shot several times outside an apartment building in the 14600 block of Rayen Street in Panorama City on Nov. 29.
Jordan contacted KCBS-TV sportscaster Jim Hill soon after the shootings and asked to meet him in a Van Nuys restaurant before he surrendered to police, Fiske said.
But Jordan never showed up. Attorney Johnnie L. Cochran was also contacted by Jordan, Fiske said, but Jordan also broke his appointment with Cochran’s office.
On Monday, Jordan met Hill, and the two went to the LAPD’s Foothill station, where Jordan surrendered, Fiske said.
Jordan has also been charged with two counts of attempted murder in connection with stabbings at the same location earlier that evening in November. Fiske said a motive for the stabbings and the shooting was still unknown.
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