Police Seek Weapon in Couple’s Slaying

As Garden Grove police continued an extensive search Wednesday for a murder weapon, a slain couple’s 19-year-old son and other relatives mourned their loss.

Officers carefully combed the quiet neighborhood, looking for a knife, a hatchet or other “sharp, cutting instrument” used to kill the couple, who were found early Tuesday, dead of multiple torso wounds, police Lt. John Woods said.

Jose Najera Jr. found his parents, Jose R. Najera, 42, and Elena Castro Najera, 46, dead in their bedroom.

Authorities said they are investigating the deaths as a double homicide and have assigned about 20 officers to the case. The home on Merrill Street did not appear to have been ransacked, Woods said, and there were no obvious signs of theft or forced entry.

Neighbors told police they did not hear any sounds of struggle or other noise from the couple’s house, though some heard dogs barking after midnight.

A few blocks away, Avelina Castro Gonzalez mourned her sister and brother-in-law, remembering what turned out to be their last Christmas together. The family had met at the Najeras’ house to celebrate not only the holiday but also the birthdays of Jose Najera Jr. and his cousin. “We were really happy,” Gonzalez said. “My sister cooked, . . . and my daughter played piano. We had a big dinner and a lot of presents.”

Family members consoled Gonzalez while the slain couple’s son and his uncle made funeral arrangements.

“Everybody is crying on each other’s shoulder,” said Gabriel Gonzalez, a nephew of the couple. “Why, why did it have to happen to them? We have so many unanswered questions.”

The couple came to the United States from Mexico in 1977. Jose Najera Sr. worked as a carpenter and construction worker, and sometimes he and his son worked together.

Neighbor Vicky De La Torre said Elena Castro Najera, who worked as a seamstress at a factory, took great pride in her home and her garden and the beds of roses that flanked the house. She said the couple worked hard to provide for their son, who graduated earlier this year from Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana and is applying to study business at USC.

“They were really low-key people,” De La Torre said, adding that the couple and their son attended a local church and would sometimes take along neighborhood children.

Investigators asked Wednesday that anyone with information about the case contact them at (714) 741-5704.