Man Admitted Killing Couple, Detective Testifies

Within hours of the killings, a Sylmar day laborer admitted to police that he had beaten and fatally stabbed the elderly couple who owned Sabatino’s Italian Restaurant and Bakery during a home robbery, a Los Angeles police detective testified Thursday.

Israel Cebrera Pulido “told me that he was the one who hurt those people,” LAPD Det. Joe Esquivel testified. “He said he killed them.”

Pulido, 23, met Sabato and Eugenia Russo, both 73, when he helped refinish floors in their North Hollywood home a few weeks before, according to court testimony.

On Thursday, after hearing the evidence, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Lloyd M. Nash ordered Pulido to stand trial on two counts of murder with the special circumstances of robbery, burglary and multiple murders.

Prosecutors Kenneth Barshop and Paula Selesnick said the district attorney’s office had not decided whether to seek the death penalty.

At Thursday’s preliminary hearing, Esquivel recounted two police interviews in which he said Pulido at first claimed he was a witness to the crime, committed by an acquaintance named “Miguel,” then admitted killing the couple.

Pulido’s attorney, John Ponist, questioned the circumstances surrounding his client’s admission. During the first interview, Pulido told detectives that he could not afford to hire an attorney but did not specifically ask for one, the transcript shows.