Two Arrested in Slaying of O.C. Teenager

A Norwalk man and woman were arrested in Las Vegas over the weekend and booked on suspicion of the kidnapping and slaying of a 17-year-old Yorba Linda youth and the rape and shooting of his girlfriend.

Michael Martinez, 21, and Florence Noriega, 28, were arrested in a Fremont Street hotel room in downtown Las Vegas about 11 p.m. Saturday, authorities said.

Investigators said they were close to arresting a third suspect in the case. The identity of that suspect, a man, was being withheld.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Lt. Don Bear said investigators were obtaining a warrant late Sunday night for the arrest of the third suspect.

The body of Chad MacDonald Jr., 17, was found dumped in a South Los Angeles alley. An autopsy report indicated he had been strangled.

Attackers had held him and his girlfriend hostage for three days before killing MacDonald and taking the 16-year-old girl to Angeles National Forest, investigators said. There she was raped, shot in the jaw and left for dead, she told authorities.

Bear said a small team of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies flew to Las Vegas on Saturday night after learning that Martinez and Noriega were staying in a hotel in the Fremont Street district. The arrests were made without incident by FBI agents and Las Vegas Metro police.

Bear declined to say what evidence connected the suspects to the slaying and rape or give any details about the suspects.

Bear said he did not know the relationship between Martinez and Noriega and how the two came into contact with MacDonald and his girlfriend.

Martinez and Noriega were booked for investigation of murder at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas and were being held without bail, Bear said.

Sheriff’s investigators said they will try to extradite the suspects, but it wasn’t known when they might arrive in Los Angeles County.

Lloyd Charton, a spokesman for MacDonald’s family, said Sunday night that he does not know if MacDonald knew the two people arrested.

Investigators late last week were focusing on a Norwalk house where authorities said the teenagers were held before MacDonald’s killing. The home was a suspected site of drug activity and a hangout for gang members, neighbors and law enforcement officials said.

MacDonald excelled in sports and academics during three years at Esperanza High School. But he left the school last year and began spending time with new friends from another school.

A friend of MacDonald’s, Mike Baeza, 20, of Yorba Linda, expressed deep relief Sunday when told of the arrests.

“This is really good news,” Baeza said. “It actually relieves me a lot. I’m really glad that the police and everyone who was involved in this was very quick in trying to find the killers.” Baeza said he had never heard the names of the two people arrested.

Community leaders who said they were shaken by the crime welcomed news of the suspects’ arrests Sunday.

Councilman John M. Gullixson said: “I’m glad they’ve apprehended someone. I just hope we’ve got these people off the streets so others are not in danger. I’m not going to feel good until they get all three of them.”

Charton said the family is determined to find out why Chad became so troubled in the past few months, and he said he believes the teenager “got deeper into a group of people or locations that he was totally unacquainted with.”

He added: “We want to share with other teenagers and their parents what happened here in hopes that it doesn’t happen to their children . . . . We don’t want other teenagers to become a victim like he did.”

Services for the youth are scheduled for noon today at Yorba Linda Friends Church, 5211 Lakeview Ave. The public is welcome, Charton said.