Man Arrested in Death of Former Girlfriend

A Tustin man suspected in the fatal shooting of his former girlfriend was arrested after a high-speed pursuit in a stolen vehicle equipped with an antitheft tracking system, Santa Ana police said Sunday.

Richard Joseph Namey, 26, was spotted near South Standard and McFadden avenues about 8:15 p.m. Saturday and sped away, traveling at speeds as high as 100 mph, said Sgt. Baltazar De La Riva.

Investigators had been looking for Namey since the Wednesday shooting of Sarah Jennifer Rodriguez, 21, and her new boyfriend, Matthew Reid Corbett, 20, in the Placentia neighborhood where she lived with her family.

Court records show that Rodriguez obtained a restraining order against Namey on April 1.

Police have said they believe Namey cut off the pair’s car, started an argument, then fired several shots into their vehicle before fleeing.

Rodriguez died at the scene. Corbett, of Westminster, was taken to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana with head and spinal injuries. Hospital officials would not disclose his condition Sunday, but Rodriguez’s half-sister, Marilyn Mungarro, said he was recovering.

Rodriguez’s family said she dated Namey for about eight months, but broke up with him in March. They said she sought a restraining order against him for alleged physical abuse and threats.

Mungarro, 16, said she was with family members at a makeshift memorial for her sister, put together by neighbors near the spot she died in the 1400 block of Hill Street, when police contacted them late Saturday night to report Namey’s arrest.

The arrest started with an alleged carjacking at 17th and Ross streets in Santa Ana about 4:15 p.m., De La Riva said. A man police identified as Namey allegedly approached Jose Valdez in a parking lot and forced his way into Valdez’s van at gunpoint.

As they drove around the corner, Valdez escaped and contacted police.

Using Valdez’s antitheft system, authorities were able to track Namey as he tried to flee onto the Costa Mesa Freeway, De La Riva said.

Namey abandoned the vehicle near Dodge and Newport avenues in an unincorporated area near north Tustin, then hid in a drainage pipe before a police dog flushed him out, De La Riva said.

Police recovered Namey’s gun without incident, De La Riva said.

Namey, who was booked on suspicion of murder, was being held Sunday in Orange County Jail in lieu of $1-million bail, De La Riva said.