Body Is Found in Trunk; Man Held

A Stanton man was arrested after police found a body stuffed in the trunk of a stolen car on Christmas Day, officials said Friday.

Kenneth Mamea Leuelu, 31, is being held on suspicion of murder and violating parole for assault and battery, police said. He is being held at Orange County Jail without bail.

The badly beaten body of Reyes Hermosillo, 39, a window glazier, was found in his girlfriend’s 1990 Lincoln Town Car, said Jim Amormino, spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

The car had been reported stolen Tuesday.

Deputies were alerted to trouble when a neighbor called authorities Christmas night to say that the two men were fighting.

When deputies arrived in the unincorporated neighborhood in Garden Grove, Leuelu was standing several yards from the car.

Authorities said that when he spotted the approaching deputies, he ran, jumping several fences as he fled.

He was found about 30 minutes later hiding in a bathroom, Amormino said.

An autopsy Friday was inconclusive and toxicology tests must still be performed. But Hermosillo’s death has been labeled a homicide.

About six months ago, Hermosillo moved from his family’s Stanton home to a nearby duplex where Leuelu lived.

Hermosillo moved out because he had a girlfriend and wanted his own place, said his niece, Karen Hermosillo, 29, of Stanton.

She said her grandmother grew concerned and reported Hermosillo missing when he failed to call or show up for holiday gatherings.

“We hadn’t seen him for several days,” said Karen Hermosillo. “Then Christmas came and went, and we still didn’t hear from him.”

A man who answered the phone at the Leuelu home identified himself as Leuelu’s father. He said he was in disbelief over the murder accusation.

“No way. He wouldn’t do anything like that,” the father said.

It was unclear what the two men fought about, police and family said.