Witness Testifies in 21-Year-Old Slaying

Twenty-one years ago, Marcos Ortiz Jr. stabbed Louis Provincio to death in a brawl outside an Oxnard Easter dance, according to testimony Monday from a former member of Ortiz’s car club.

Ortiz, 40, is on trial for murder.

After eluding police for years, Ortiz was caught in September when Oxnard police booked him on a domestic violence charge, checked his name in national crime databanks and found an outstanding warrant for his arrest.

The witness testified Monday that he, Ortiz and several other members of the East Side Classics Car Club were at an Easter dance at the Elks Lodge in Oxnard.

The man testified that he and a friend left the dance to ride around in the early hours of April 18, 1976. After awhile, they returned to the parking lot and saw a huge crowd circled around a fight.

There Ortiz and three or four fellow car club members surrounded Provincio, the man testified.

“They kicked him, . . . he fell to the ground and they stabbed him,” the witness testified. A car club member was attacking Provincio with a screwdriver, but Ortiz had a rigid knife with a 4-inch blade, the witness said.

“What was he doing with that knife?” asked Deputy Dist. Atty. Dee Corona.

“Jabbing it,” the man answered, “into the left side of the guy. He went to the ground. . . . He tried to struggle and stay up, but, yeah, he fell.”

Pressed for more details, the witness said, “I can’t recall, it was 20 years ago.”

Testimony is to continue today. The prosecution plans to wrap up its case by Wednesday or Thursday.