Police Arrest Suspect in 20-Year-Old Slaying

OXNARD —  The family of Luis Provencio waited 20 years for police to find the man who killed the 21-year-old welder after a car club dance on Easter Sunday.

Authorities finally think they have.

Oxnard police arrested Marcos Ortiz Jr., 40, after responding to complaints that a man was beating his wife early Monday morning. While booking Ortiz, a nationwide computer check of arrest warrants identified him as a suspect in the 1976 slaying.

Benjamin Provencio, the victim’s older brother, heard the news on the radio.

“I just wonder where he’s been all this time, and why it took them so long to catch him,” said the 61-year-old El Rio resident. “I’m just glad he got caught.”

According to his brother, Provencio was at a dance on Easter at the Elks Lodge when a friend got into a fight. He tried to help. But both men were stabbed, Provencio suffering a fatal wound that penetrated his lung.

“We all took it pretty bad,” his brother said. “Oh, it had a very big impact on my parents. I remember the police said they had suspects, but that they ran away or something. It was very frustrating for us.”

Oxnard Police Cmdr. Joe Munoz, who was one of the first officers to arrive at the scene two decades ago, said the stabbing occurred during a fight between several people after a car club dance.

“It had gang connotations,” Munoz said.

Munoz said a number of people were arrested, but police were unable to track down Ortiz after he fled the area. His name was entered into the National Crime Information Center’s computerized database after he was indicted in the slaying by a grand jury.

“It went on the nationwide computer and just stayed there,” Munoz said. “I’m glad he surfaced. We can clear the books.”

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The case would still be open if Ortiz and his wife had not gotten into a violent argument shortly after midnight Monday.

Police would not say much about the incident except that Ortiz was booked on suspicion of battery. But a neighbor also living on the 400 block of G Street in central Oxnard said she was awakened by the screams of Ortiz’s wife, who ran out of a small stucco duplex onto the lawn and began sobbing.

Police arrived and took Ortiz into custody.

The neighbor, who refused to identify herself, said the couple and their infant child had lived in the rental for only a few months and were not a problem.

“They seemed to be very peaceful,” she said. “They were very quiet.”

The wife left the home early Monday morning and has not been seen since.

Times staff writer Fred Alvarez contributed to this report.