San Clemente Man Faces Charges in Fatal Stabbing
A San Clemente man who tried to escape to Mexico after allegedly stabbing his girlfriend to death has been charged in her slaying, police said Thursday.
Robert Karl Russell, 40, was extradited to Orange County on Wednesday and booked into Orange County Jail on suspicion of killing Cheryl Joyner, police said. He is being held without bail.
Joyner was found May 5, stabbed to death inside the San Clemente apartment she shared with Russell since the two had met on an Internet chat room three months ago, police said.
Authorities in Texas arrested Russell on weapons charges when he was found sleeping in a canoe on the Rio Grande. Police in Harlingen, Texas, said they found a rifle in the canoe and found Joyner’s car parked along a nearby river bank.
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