Man accused in 2003 killing in Costa Mesa arrested

A 54-year-old man accused of fatally shooting a man in Costa Mesa in 2003 — the city’s first murder of that year — is now behind bars, more than two decades after the killing he allegedly committed.

Ismael Rosolio Martinez was charged with murder with a sentencing enhancement for the discharge of a gun causing death. He is accused of killing 20-year-old Ferdinand Eugenio Zamudio-Saucedo on Oct. 11, 2003, according to court records.

Martinez and the victim, a resident of Santa Ana, were previously acquainted and had apparently gotten into an argument that escalated into the violence in a Westside Costa Mesa alley, police told the Daily Pilot in 2003.

Zamudio-Saucedo was killed by a single shot, and the incident spawned a search for Martinez, 31 years old at the time, who was identified as a possible suspect through witness interviews.

Then-police Lt. Dale Birney told the Daily Pilot that while the exact relationship between the two men was unknown, the shooting was not believed to be gang related. Martinez was seen leaving the scene on foot but was thought to have been driving an older model gray Honda Accord at the time, Birney said.

Martinez, who went by the nickname “Pelon,” had lived in several locations in Costa Mesa. Court records indicate he went by multiple aliases, including Jorge Dominguez Ortiz, Jose Alavarro Sanchez and Ismael Garcia Hernandez.

The shooting was the first fatality to occur in Costa Mesa in 2003 and the first under newly appointed police Chief John Hensley, who at the time called the incident “a disappointment.”

“We’ve been making a lot of progress in the Westside,” Hensley told the Pilot. “This is an anomaly, and we don’t want the public to be overly concerned about this incident.

“This is not a gang shooting. It is, however, tragic. We want the public to know that we’re out there and that we’d like to close this one. I’m confident we will.”

Hensley announced his retirement from Costa Mesa Police Department in April 2006. His last day was June 30 of that year.

The details of Martinez’s apprehension and arrest have not been shared with the public, but a CMPD spokeswoman confirmed her agency was not the arresting body.

Martinez was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday for an arraignment but did not show. The hearing was rescheduled to Sept. 11, court records indicate.

City News Service contributed to this report.