No Answers Yet in Death of Boy, 10

Mourners placed candles and flowers Sunday at the front door of an Anaheim apartment where police found the body of Francisco Meza, a 10-year-old boy allegedly killed a day earlier by his stepfather.

An autopsy was performed on the fifth-grader Sunday, but Orange County coroner investigators refused to reveal how the boy died, referring questions to the Anaheim police.

A police spokesman declined to comment on the cause of death or a possible murder weapon Sunday and said detectives had not identified a motive.

“There is no rhyme, no reasons, and no explanation for this crime,” Anaheim Police Sgt. Joe Vargas said.

Officers will be visiting James Madison Elementary School today to answer questions from Francisco’s friends and other children who are upset by the death of their classmate, a friendly boy they called “Frankie.”

On Saturday, officers responded to a 911 call by the boy’s 26-year-old stepfather, Efrain Loza Arteaga, about 2 p.m. Suspicious about the call, officers arrived at the home with their guns drawn and found Francisco in a blood-stained rear bedroom, Vargas said.

After a short standoff at the apartment in the 1800 block of Sallie Lane, officers arrested Arteaga on suspicion of murder. Witnesses said Arteaga’s clothes were bloody when he surrendered.

Arteaga, a mechanic, is being held on $250,000 bail at Anaheim Detention Facility and will be arraigned Tuesday at the earliest, Vargas said.

Arteaga’s sister and brother-in-law, who live in an apartment across the street, refused Sunday to discuss the incident.

“We don’t know anything and want to be left alone,” the brother-in-law said.

Neighbors said the boy’s mother, Maria del Refugio Guillen, a hotel maid, spent the night with relatives and came by early in the morning to pick up some clothes, then left.

Apartment manager Larry Adams, who lives next door to Arteaga and Guillen, said he has known the couple for 18 months and never saw any problems between the boy and his stepfather.

“They were so much into each other. Wherever he goes he takes the kid,” Adams said. “I never knew of [Arteaga] having any problems with the boy.”

Adams said he wonders how the killing could have occurred unnoticed.

“Nobody heard anything. The other tenants have told me that they too didn’t hear anything. The first sign I saw that something was wrong was when I looked out my door and saw the police approaching with guns drawn,” Adams said. “The kid is soft-spoken, so even if he had yelled, it probably would’ve been hard for anybody to hear him.”