Suspect in 5 Execution-Style Slayings Arrested in Utah

Authorities in Salt Lake City have arrested a 22-year-old man in connection with the brutal April slayings of five people in an El Monte home, which included the execution of a 6-month-old baby.

Salt Lake County sheriff’s deputies on Sunday arrested Richard Valdez after he called the sheriff’s office to ask whether there was a warrant for his arrest, said Salt Lake Sheriff’s Lt. Kevin Taylor.

“The dispatcher said, ‘Well, you didn’t kill anyone did you?,’ ” Taylor said. “And he said, ‘No, I don’t think so.’ ” But a quick computer check showed that Valdez had been indicted in September along with three others for the shooting deaths of Maria Moreno, 39; her brother, Anthony Moreno, 42; two of her children, Laura, 5, and Ambrose Padilla Jr., 6 months, and a 36-year-old friend, Gustavo Aguirre of Irwindale.

All were shot point-blank in the head except for Laura, who was struck in the chest. Police said at the time that Maria Moreno’s two other children, a 6-year-old boy and a 2-year-old girl, were believed to have survived the attack only because the killer ran out of ammunition.

The three others suspected along with Valdez--Anthony Torres, 29; Jimmy Palma, 21, and Daniel Logan, 19--already were in custody at the time of Valdez’s arrest, said Los Angeles Sheriff’s Lt. Jerry Biehn.