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WEST COVINA -- A man was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison Friday for bludgeoning his father to death with a dumbbell in an Irwindale self-storage facility, officials said.
Jonathan Martinez Pedraza, 26, of Hollywood, received his sentence from West Covina Superior Court Judge Douglas Sortino after being convicted by a jury of first-degree murder and other crimes Feb. 3, court officials said.
He killed his 62-year-old father, Miguel Pedraza of Glendora, Sept. 3, 2010 and left his body inside a storage locker at A-1 Mini Storage, 4391 Irwindale Avenue, officials said.
A motive in the killing has not been released.
The sentence was slightly less than the maximum possible sentence of 27 years to life in prison.
After killing his father, Jonathan Pedraza fled the area in a car, crashing through a security gate and becoming involved in a hit-and-run crash in Baldwin Park before being taken into custody.
In addition to murder, he was convicted of felony vandalism and two counts of hit-and-run, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
A hearing in October in which Pedraza was determined to be mentally competent to stand trial.
His trial lasted about a day and a half, and the jury deliberated for about two hours before finding Jonathan Pedraza guilty.
Evidence presented at trial revealed that Pedraza delivered at least five powerful blows to his 62-year-old father's head causing 10 lacerations and a fractured skull.
SANTA FE SPRINGS -- Three parolees arrested on suspicion of carrying out a car-to-car shooting that left one man dead and another seriously wounded last week have not been charged in connection with the slaying, officials said Thursday.
Jason Uzel, 37, of Whittier, Brian Recinos, 22, of Whittier and Frank Ramos, 45, of Eureka were arrested on suspicion of murder in the hours following the Jan. 2 shooting on Sorensen Avenue, just south of Washington Boulevard, Whittier police officials said.
While all three men remained behind bars on suspicion of violating their parole, police had not yet presented the murder case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, Whittier police Officer Bradley White said.
"There's no criminal filing at this time," he said. The investigation is still ongoing."
The shooting claimed the life of 18-year-old Mark Joseph Rodriguez of Whittier, and left a second man who was riding in a car with Rodriguez seriously wounded, according to police and coroner's officials.
The shooting is being investigated by the Whittier Police Department, which provides police services to Santa Fe Springs.
WHITTIER -- A South Whittier man has begun serving a 12-year prison sentence for stabbing wife to death at their home in an unincorporated county area near Whittier.
Andres Zazueta, 47, was sentenced to prison Feb. 3 after pleading no contest to voluntary manslaughter in the death of 45-year-old Maria Guzman on March 13, Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Jane Robison said.
Originally charged with murder, Zazueta attacked his wife with a kitchen knife at their home in the 10700 block of Carmenita Road, then wounded himself as well before deputies arrived at the scene, officials said.
Guzman died at the scene, while Zazueta was hospitalized for his injuries before being arrested.
Other than domestic violence, a motive in the killing has not been released.
No official cause of death is known for a San Gabriel woman and Tournament of Roses volunteer whose body was found in the trunk of her car in 2004, resulting in the arrest of an Alhambra man on suspicion of murder earlier this week, coroner's officials said.
Richard Allan Munnecke, 71, was jailed Wednesday on suspicion of killing 59-year-old Donna Kelly, whose body was found by her daughter in April of 2004, sheriff's officials said. She went missing about three weeks earlier.
Coroner's medical examiners were unable to determined how Kelly died, largely because of the condition her body was discovered in, Los Angeles County Department of Coroner's Assistant Chief of Operations Ed Winter said.
"(Cause of death) is undetermined after autopsy and toxicology. They don't know why she died," Winter said.
Investigators noted in their report that the cause of death was, "possibly masked by decomposition," he added.
Detective Richard Lopez of the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau said after meeting with coroner's medical examiners, investigators are convinced that Kelly died as the result of suffocation. He declined to give further details.
DNA linked Munnecke to the killing, leading to his arrest, Lopez said.
As part of the ongoing investigation, detectives obtained a court order to collect a sample of DNA from Munnecke in August of 2010, Lopez said.
While Munnecke had not previously been named as a suspect in Kelly's killing, "We knew of his connection to the victim," the detective said.
When results from the DNA analysis came back in September of last year, "it narrowed the investigation," Lopez said.
Authorities allege the killing took place while Munnecke, who is married, was having an affair with Kelly. Munnecke has denied an affair took place.
Munnecke's arrest shocked many who knew him as a friendly and active community member.
According to county booking records, he was being held in lieu of $1 million bail pending arraignment Friday in Alhambra Superior Court.
MONTEREY PARK -- Homicide detectives arrested a man Sunday on suspicion of killing his pregnant wife in their Monterey Park home.
Hongxin Liu, 41, was booked on suspicion of the murder of 39-year-old Chenyan Bao, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Capt. Mike Parker said in a written statement.
"Suspect Liu was involved in a domestic violence altercation with his wife," Parker said. "Bao ultimately died as a result of her injuries."
Bao was pronounced dead shortly after 7:10 a.m. at the couple's house in the 1000 block of South Ynez Avenue, Los Angeles County coroner investigator Jerry McKibben said.
Firefighter-paramedics responded to a report that Bao was unconscious, and ultimately pronounced her dead, Monterey Park police Lt. Scott Wiese said. Rescuers summoned police to investigate.
"When the coroner investigator arrived, she found suspicious marks on the victim," according to the sheriff's statement. "The victim was also believed to be three months pregnant."
Detectives at first detained Liu for questioning, but ultimately arrested him on suspicion of killing his wife shortly before 3 p.m., Parker said.
"The exact cause of death is unknown at this time," Parker added. Coroner's investigators will perform an autopsy to determine how Bao died.
The couple had a 2-year-old daughter who was placed into the custody of the county Department of Children and Family Services, officials said.
As is standard procedure for homicide cases or suspicious death investigation Monterey Park, detectives from the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau are assisting Monterey Park police in the investigation.
According to county booking records, Liu was being held in lieu of of $1 million bail at the Monterey Park Police Department's jail pending an arraignment hearing Wednesday in Alhambra Superior Court.
Anyone with information is asked to call sheriff's homicide detectives at 323-890-5500, or tips can be left anonymously by calling L.A. Crime Stoppers at 800-222-88477.
WEST COVINA - A jury on Friday convicted a Hollywood man of beating his 62-year-old father to death with a dumbbell in an Irwindale storage facility.
Jonathan Martinez Pedraza, 26, was found guilty of first-degree murder, felony vandalism and two misdemeanor counts of hit-and-run driving, according to Deputy District Attorney Stacy Okun-Wiese.
The jury also found true an allegation that he personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon, the dumbbell.
Pedraza faces a maximum sentence of 27 years to life in prison at his Feb. 10 sentencing in West Covina Superior Court.
Miguel Pedraza of Glendora was killed Sept. 3, 2010 and his body was discovered inside a storage locker at A-1 Mini Storage, 4391 Irwindale Avenue.
The younger Pedraza delivered at least five powerful blows to his father's head fracturing the skull and causing 10 lacerations, according to authorities.
He then rammed his car though a security gate at the facility to escape before becoming involved in another collision in Baldwin Park.
He crashed into two other cars at a parking lot in the 14500 block of Ramona Boulevard and fled. Baldwin Park police found him hiding on the roof of a apartment complex in the 14400 block of Pacific Avenue and arrested him.
A judge in October 2011 ruled that Jonathan Pedraza was mentally competent to stand trial.
- Ruby Gonzales
SANTA FE SPRINGS -- Three men have been jailed in connection with a fatal car-to-car shooting that left an 18-year-old Whittier man dead and another man critically wounded, authorities said.
Mark Joseph Rodriguez died at a hospital shorty after the shooting, which was reported about 6 p.m. Thursday on Sorensen Avenue, just south of Washington Boulevard, Los Angeles County Department of Coroner Assistant Chief of Operations Ed Winter said.
Jason Uzel, 37, of Whittier, Brian Recinos, 22, of Whittier and Frank Ramos, 45, of Eureka, were booked on suspicion of murder, Whittier police Officer Bradley White said.
Rodriguez and the other shooting victim were in the back seat of a car when someone opened fire on them with .45-caliber handgun from a pearl-white compact car with aftermarket rims, Whittier police officials said.
Two other people in the car that was shot were not wounded, police said.
"A (sheriff's) deputy made a traffic stop on a vehicle (and), found a .45(-caliber) casing in the car," Whittier police Lt. Carlos Solorza said. The car matched the description of the one driven during the attack.
Two men inside the car -- later identified as Uzel and Recinos -- were found to be on parole, the lieutenant said. Officials searched a home connected to the men and seized a handgun of a similar caliber to the one used in the shooting, he added.
"It was good police work," Solorza said.
Continued investigation led to the arrest of Ramos about 12: 45 a.m. Friday, according to police and county booking records, however further details of his arrest were not available Friday.
The shooting took place on a commercial street lined with concrete warehouses and factories.
It was not clear if Thursday afternoon's shooting was related to another Santa Fe Springs shooting reported the previous night. In that incident, a 12-year-old boy was wounded in the leg while sleeping when bullets tore through his family's home in the 9300 block of Danby Avenue -- about two miles from the scene of Thursday's shooting.
Both shootings were described by police as being apparently gang-related.
According to county booking records, all three suspects were being held without bail pending their initial court appearances.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Whittier Police Department, which provides police services to Santa Fe Springs.
VAN NUYS -- A judge sentenced a man to 21 years in prison Thursday for the fatal shooting of a popular Pasadena professor, officials said.
Steven Ronald Honma, 56, of Westlake Village, was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in November for the March 20, 2010 slaying of 50-year-old Norman Schureman of Altadena.
Schureman was a professor at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.
Honma received his sentence in Van Nuys Superior Court from Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Thomas Rubinson, Los Angeles County District Attorney's officials said in a written statement.
The shooting took place at a Persian New Year's Eve Party hosted by Schureman's mother-in-law in the 31700 block of Kentfield Court in Westlake Village, officials said.
"The defendant got into a fight and was asked to leave," according to the D.A.'s statement. "Honma left the party but returned with multiple concealed weapons, ammunition and a serrated knife."
Sheriff's officials said Honma had two guns with him at the time of the shooting, though only one was fired.
"When Honma was asked to leave a second time, a fight ensued and the defendant drew a handgun, fatally shooting Schureman," according to the statement.
Schureman taught product design at Art Center for nearly two decades.
He is survived by his wife and two young children. More than 1,000 mourners gathered for his memorial service at the school, and a scholarship has been established in his name.
POMONA -- Authorities have identified a man whose body was found inside a burning car along the 10 Freeway in Pomona last week, though how the man died remained under investigation.
Christopher Michael Cercone, 33, of Ontario was pronounced dead after firefighters extinguished a burning Chevrolet Impala along the the South Campus Drive onramp to the westbound 10 Freeway, Los Angeles County Department of Coroner's Assistant Chief of Operations Ed Winter said.
The body was found in the driver's seat of the car, which was reported as a car fire by passers-by about 10 p.m. Jan. 26, according to Pomona police investigators.
Once firefighters extinguished the flames and discovered the body, they determined the fire was suspicious in nature and notified Pomona police, authorities said.
The car displayed no body damage consisted with a major crash.
An autopsy had been carried out on Cercone's body, Winter said, however an officials cause of death was deferred pending further examination.
Pomona police homicide detectives continued investigating.
WEST COVINA -- Trial began Wednesday for a Glendora man accused of murdering his father with a dumbbell in a storage facility in Irwindale in September.
Jonathan Pedraza, 26, is charged with Sept. 3, 2010 killing of his father, 62-year-old Miguel Pedraza of Glendora.
The body of the elder Pedraza was discovered inside of a storage locker at A-1 Mini Storage, 4391 Irwindale Avenue, beaten to death with a free weight, investigators said.
After the killing, Jonathan Pedraza allegedly rammed his car though a gate at the facility to escape before becoming involved in another hit-and-run crash in Baldwin Park.
A judge in October ruled that the son was mentally competent to stand trial. Authorities have not disclosed a motive in the killing.
After completing jury selection Wednesday in Pomona Superior Court, the jury listened to opening statements and the prosecution began laying out its case, court officials said.
According to county booking records, Jonathan Pedraza was being held in lieu of $1 million bail.
PHOTO courtesy of the Irwindale Police Department
POMONA -- The investigation continued Saturday into the discovery of a body inside a flaming car on the side of an onramp to the 10 Freeway.
The grisly find was made about 10 p.m. Thursday on the South Campus Drive onramp to the westbound 10 Freeway after passing motorist reported seeing the newer-model Chevrolet Impala on fire.
While the charred condition of the body still prevented identification, investigators believed it to be that of a man in his mid-30s, Los Angeles County Department of Coroner's Lt. Larry Dietz said.
Identification would likely have to be made through dental records or x-rays, he added.
Once firefighters extinguished the blaze, they found the body in the driver's seat, Pomona police officials said. Arson investigators ruled the fire to be suspicious, and Pomona police homicide detectives launched and investigation.
An autopsy was planned to determine how the man died.
The car did not show signs of being involved in a major traffic accident.
SANTA ANA -- A former Marine convicted of killing three women in Illinois pleaded not guilty Friday to murdering five more women in California.
Andrew Urdiales entered the plea in Superior Court in Santa Ana, said Farrah Emami, a spokeswoman for the Orange County district attorney's office.
Authorities allege Urdiales killed five women in Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties between 1986 and 1995. Many of his victims were prostitutes who were repeatedly stabbed or shot.
Urdiales was convicted in 2002 of two murders in Illinois and a third in 2004 and sentenced to death. Two of those sentences were commuted to life without the possibility of parole in 2002 by then-Gov. George Ryan. When Illinois banned the death penalty, Urdiales' third sentence also was commuted to life without the possibility of parole.
Last year, Urdiales was extradited to Orange County, where prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Messages were left Friday for defense attorneys Lewis Clapp and Constance Istratescu.
Orange County prosecutors say Urdiales began a killing spree soon after moving to Southern California in 1984 as a 19-year-old Marine. He murdered four women while in the military and a fifth while vacationing in Palm Springs in 1995, four years after his discharge, prosecutors allege.
The cases went unsolved for more than a decade until Urdiales was arrested after his return to his native Illinois and confessed there to the California killings, prosecutors said.
Urdiales is being held without bail. His next court hearing is Feb. 10.
- From the Associated Press
POMONA -- Authorities extinguished a car fire on a freeway onramp late Thursday and discovered a badly burned body inside.
The car fire was first reported to the California Highway Patrol at 10:01 p.m. on the South Campus Drive onramp to the eastbound 10 Freeway, according to CHP logs.
Because of the condition of the body, it was not immediately apparent if the dead person was male or female, Los Angeles County Department of Coroner Assistant Chief of Operations Ed Winter said.
"(The) Pomona Police Department responded to the scene due to suspicious circumstances determined by LA County Arson investigators," Pomona police Sgt. Patrick O'Malley said. "The vehicle fire and the deceased person are currently being investigated by the Pomona Police Department's detective bureau."
The burning car, a newer-model Chevrolet Impala, was found along the left side of the onramp, with its rear end shifted off the road and resting on a grass hillside.
A CHP log entry at 10:08 p.m. indicated a witness who called 9-1-1, "saw a jacket in the car but doesn't know if someone was inside," as the car was becoming engulfed in flames.
hile it was severely scorched, it did not show damage indicating a major traffic accident.
The onramp remained shut down Friday morning as officials investigated the scene, removed the car and made sure the roadway was safe for traffic.
Anyone with information is asked to call Pomona police homicide detectives Shope or Uribe at 909-620-2095. Tips can also be left anonymously by calling 800-782-7463.
LA HABRA -- Two La Habra men died late Thursday after being shot in a residential neighborhood, authorities said.
Nick Burresch, 24, and Phillip Reinig, 30, were pronounced dead at a hospital shortly after the 7:15 p.m. shooting in the 500 block of South Clifton Avenue, La Habra police officials said in a written statement.
Detectives were left with few clues in the double-slaying.
"The La Habra Police Department received calls of shots fired," according to the police statement. "When officers arrived on scene, they found two gunshot victims outside a residence."
No information regarding the circumstances of the shooting or any suspect description was available early Friday.
Anyone with information is asked to call La Habra Police at 562-905-9750. Tips can be left anonymously by dialing 562-905-9611.
CONTRIBUTORS
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| Frank Girardot, Metro Editor for the San Gabriel Valley Newspapers, brings you behind the yellow tape with takes on true crime, cold cases and more. This is also your forum to discuss crime, its impact on your neighborhood and how we cover it. Have any questions or tips? You can leave a comment here or e-mail Frank. |
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Brian Day is the crime reporter for the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper group. E-mail Brian. |
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