Third Man Arrested in Torture-Murder Case

Police arrested a third suspect Friday in the 1993 torture-murder of an 18-year-old who was bound, beaten and hanged by the neck before his body was tossed into a channel near the Long Beach Harbor.

Investigators served an arrest warrant on Gregory Jason Chandler, 22, who is suspected of killing Carlos Salanova. Chandler is currently serving time at the California Youth Authority in Chino for an unrelated charge of assault with a firearm.

Christopher Scott, 21, of Buena Park, and Shane Perry, 20, formerly of La Palma, were arrested earlier this week in connection with the Salanova slaying.

Scott and Chandler face murder charges with the special circumstance of torture, which could make them both eligible for the death penalty if found guilty, Police Capt. Vince Giampa said.

Perry turned himself in to authorities at Juvenile Hall Thursday. Charges have not been filed against Perry, who was a juvenile at the time of the slaying.

Salanova, of Buena Park, was killed late February 1993 at a La Palma house where about a dozen teenagers had gathered to take drugs, Giampa said.

Investigators believe Scott took the victim to the house party. His attackers held him at gunpoint, gagged him and bound his hands and feet with duct tape, Giampa said.

Salanova then was beaten and tortured before a rope was tied around his neck and he was hanged. His throat also was slashed.

Salanova’s body was dumped into the Cerritos Channel on March 1. Nine days later, his body was found floating with a rope around his neck in Long Beach Harbor.

Detectives have not determined a motive for the killing, and the relationship between the suspects and the victim remains unclear.

Chandler is expected to be arraigned next week, Giampa said.