Arraignment of Suspect in Slaying Postponed

As family members of a man shot to death Monday in Thousand Oaks gathered for a memorial service Thursday, the Thousand Oaks man suspected of killing him remained in custody without being formally charged.

Prosecutors had originally planned to arraign Bradley Neill Raville, 42, on charges of murder Thursday, but postponed the arraignment to give investigators more time to gather evidence.

“There’s still lots of evidence to be processed, and we are not convinced that we know exactly what happened,” said Lt. Larry Robertson of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

Deputies arrested Raville on Tuesday morning on suspicion of shooting Juan Elijio Carranza of Lancaster, who was found dead late Monday night in the passenger seat of a tow truck that Raville owns. The truck was parked near Los Feliz and Skyline drives in Thousand Oaks, in front of an empty storefront from which Raville’s business, Brad’s Towing, had recently been evicted.

Raville told authorities he fired at Carranza in self-defense after Carranza, armed with a pistol, tried to rob him. The shooting, with a handgun that Raville had hidden beneath the driver’s seat of the truck, apparently happened during a drive to the vacant storefront.

But Carranza’s sister said Thursday that her 35-year-old brother was a kind-hearted man and father of five--not a thief.

Carranza had served in the Marines before being discharged for medical problems and was taking time off from classes at the University of New Mexico, said the sister, who asked not to be identified. A car buff, he had recently been working part time for Raville at the towing service, either towing or repairing cars, she said.

The family was planning to gather Thursday evening for a private memorial service in San Fernando.

The sister said she did not know what happened between Raville and Carranza on Monday night.

“As far as I know, he was supposed to go do a job with Brad, that Brad called him and said he needed him to do some work,” she said.

Deputies have refused to say why they suspect Carranza’s death was murder and not an act of self-defense. However, Sgt. David Paige said that when they first questioned Raville on Monday night, he told them that he did not know Carranza.

Deputies later visited Raville’s home to search for evidence and found Carranza’s girlfriend, Cynthia Marie Carranza, at the location, Paige said.

Cynthia Carranza, 31, who deputies said is not related to the victim, was arrested for allegedly possessing 10.6 grams of the drug crystal methamphetamine. She was released from custody late Thursday.

Since neither Raville, whose bail is $250,000, nor Cynthia Carranza was arraigned as scheduled Thursday, police had until midnight to either arrest them again or set them free, Paige said.

Robertson said deputies would probably rearrest Raville, allowing them to delay his arraignment until Tuesday.

“At this point in time, we don’t know what the truth is,” he said.