Parolee Charged in Apparent Beating Death of Friend

Behind the latticework of Ray Lopez Cota’s apartment porch is a widower’s mess: heaps of empty beer cans, the cardboard boxes they came in, gray cigarettes in an overflowing ashtray.

Although Cota, 47, never got over the death of his wife last Christmas, his neighbors said he remained a friendly presence on this working-class block of Sepulveda Boulevard, where he was often seen drinking beer on his front steps.

But today, neighbors are surmising that Cota’s warm nature was exploited by a drinking buddy, Arthur Smith, 38, who was arrested on suspicion of killing Cota in his apartment last weekend.

Cota was last seen Saturday afternoon, hanging out with Smith, an unemployed parolee living in a Sylmar halfway house, said Det. Frank Bishop of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Foothill Division.

By Monday morning, Liz Aguinaga, a longtime friend of Cota’s and the apartment building manager, suspected something was wrong because she hadn’t seen him around. Entering his apartment with a pass key Monday morning, she found a bloody scene and called police, Bishop said.

Police, who found Cota’s body about 1 p.m., suspect he was beaten to death, although an autopsy is pending. They heard from a neighbor that his car was missing. About 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, police found the car parked in a market lot at Nordhoff Street and Sepulveda Boulevard. Smith returned to the car about half an hour later and was taken into custody.

Police later recovered jewelry and electronic equipment belonging to Cota that Smith had allegedly given to acquaintances, Bishop said.

“As far as the real motive, it may be the property or a dispute,” Bishop said. “Who knows why? He may have just wanted the money.”

Aguinaga, 40, was saddened and perplexed by the death of a man she said was known around the neighborhood as a gentle soul.

“He always said hi to everyone who walked by,” Aguinaga said Tuesday. “He didn’t have any enemies. I really don’t even know what to think--he never did anything to hurt anyone.”

Aguinaga, who said she had known Cota since the early ‘70s, said that after Cota’s wife, Patricia, a diabetic, died of heart failure in December, he tried to bounce back, but never quite recovered. “It was kind of hard [for him],” said Aguinaga, who cooked an occasional dinner for Cota once he was alone.

A neighbor who asked not to be identified said he thought Smith was taking advantage of Cota, using him for beer money. “[Cota] used to hang out on the steps right there,” he said. “He was kind of lonely, so he was really begging for friendship. [Smith] seemed like he picked up on that and used it.”

Freddy Contreras, 42, of Mission Hills, was a close friend and co-worker of Cota’s at a Coca-Cola Bottling Co. warehouse in Sylmar. He and others there said they recalled Cota’s amiable personality.

“He was a good guy and a caring guy--if you needed a friend, if you needed money, he would give it to you,” Contreras said. “I wouldn’t say he was an angel. He had his ups and downs like everybody else. But me and him were just the best of partners. We car-pooled together.”

Cota, known to friends as Ray-Ray, was a Valley native and U.S. Army veteran who would have celebrated his 10th wedding anniversary last month, said his sister, Laura Acosta, 40, of Sylmar.

He was “very loving, very caring, very thoughtful--an all-around great guy,” Acosta said.

“I just think he opened his heart to too many people, too much,” she added. “We will miss him dearly. He will always be in our hearts, and we do want justice for him.”

He is also survived by his mother, Gloria Murden of Arleta; his father, Ray Cota Sr. of Cottonwood, Ariz.; and brothers Steve Cota and Mike Murden, both of Arleta.

Smith, who served time for burglary, was paroled in May or June, Bishop said. Smith is expected to arraigned today or Thursday.