Man Held in Slaying of Mother, Father

Police arrested a 24-year-old man Friday on charges of strangling his parents at their Eagle Rock home, authorities said.

Paul Quintana was arrested without incident at 1:10 p.m. by Los Angeles School Police at Armadale and Charters avenues. They received a tip from one of the suspect’s neighbors who saw him walking near his home, said LAPD Det. Martha Ramos.

Quintana was turned in to Northeast Division detectives, who questioned him Friday, Ramos said.

Investigators believe Quintana strangled his mother and father. The bodies of Jose Quintana, 47, and his wife, Rosemarie, 49, were found Thursday evening by their youngest daughter in their duplex in the 4500 block of Paulhan Avenue.

The daughter saw Quintana packing when she found the bodies, said Police Lt. Anthony Alba. One of the bodies was reportedly stuffed in the closet. The other was on the floor.

Tony Quintana, the suspect’s uncle, said that Quintana had a drug problem and recently attacked his father, who was in a wheelchair. But despite their son’s bizarre behavior, Tony Quintana said, the churchgoing couple refused to kick their son out of their home.

“I think deep down inside they were thinking that if they loved him enough, he would snap out of it,” the uncle said. “I think they loved him too much and didn’t see it coming.”

The uncle said that even though Jose Quintana was in a wheelchair due to a stroke he suffered about 15 years ago, he would take a bus to Glendale Community College to take classes. His wife was also taking courses there, he said.

Quintana’s personality started to change about five years ago, when he began sniffing glue, the uncle said. “He was only Paul in body, but not in spirit,” the uncle said.