6th Suspect Arrested in Student’s Slaying

The last of six suspects has been arrested in the 1994 slaying of a 19-year-old UC Irvine engineering student who was jotting down the license plate of a suspicious van when one of the occupants got out and shot him, authorities said Thursday.

Hau Cong Ha, 21, was arrested after an officer recognized the fugitive in the back seat of a Honda Accord he had stopped on a routine traffic violation, said Garden Grove Police Sgt. Joe Johnson.

Officer Rob Campbell remembered the case and recognized Ha because he has a crooked neck, Johnson said.

“Something just wasn’t right,” Johnson said. “He detained him and brought him in for a follow-up investigation.”

Police say Ha is the final suspect to be arrested in the Aug. 17, 1994 slaying of Robert G. Sapinoso, a bashful computer whiz nicknamed “Zap” for his lightning-fast typing.

Sapinoso and a friend were at the friend’s house in Garden Grove when they saw a passing van they believed had been involved in neighborhood vandalism days earlier. They got into Sapinoso’s car to chase the vehicle and get the license number.

The friend later told police that the pair had jotted down all but one digit of the plate at a traffic light when someone got out of the van, walked to Sapinoso’s car and opened fire.

“Ha, in the silver van at the time, was an active participant in that homicide,” Johnson said. “He is the last of the suspects from the silver van to be arrested.”

Investigators believed that Ha had fled to Canada, but Canadian officials were unable to locate him, Johnson said.

Police have alleged that the suspects are all members of the same gang.

After Ha was detained Tuesday at West Street and Garden Grove Boulevard, police brought him to the station for further questioning. Investigator Dale Walker questioned Ha, who was placed under arrest about 9 p.m., Johnson said.