Suspect in Slaying Arrested at Border
Federal authorities arrested a 25-year-old man at the Mexico-California border for allegedly shooting his uncle to death outside a San Fernando home on Halloween 1995.
Saul Pelayo, 25, was a passenger in a car attempting to cross the border into California on Monday, officials said. Authorities who realized that Pelayo was a murder suspect took him into custody.
San Fernando detectives later took Pelayo to the Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles, where he was being held without bail Wednesday.
“He had been staying in Mexico City and Tijuana,” San Fernando Det. Lance Steaman said. “We think he’s been coming back and forth.”
Steaman said Pelayo’s family lives near the border in San Diego.
Police said that more than two years ago, while in San Fernando on Oct. 31, Pelayo allegedly got into an argument with his uncle, Rosalio Chavez Pelayo, 43, of Redlands, in a building.
Steaman said Pelayo went outside of the building and crouched behind a car holding a shotgun. When his uncle walked outside, Pelayo apparently shot him in the back three times, police said.
Steaman said that if Pelayo is convicted, he could face the death penalty. Pelayo is to be arraigned May 27.
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