Suspect in custody in South Pasadena slaying

SOUTH PASADENA -- A man accused of shooting his friend in the head as the two sat in a car in South Pasadena more than a year ago is in custody and awaiting trial, authorities said Friday, though the motive in the slaying remained a mystery.

By all accounts, Juan Carlos Perez, 34, and Noe Martinez-Quinone, 35, were good friends who were last seen attending a baby shower, then visiting a Los Angeles bar about 2 a.m. on Nov. 22, 2009, Detective Karen Shonka of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Homicide Bureau said. Slightly more than two hours later, a South Pasadena police officer discovered Martinez-Quinone's body inside his friend's car parked in the 1000 block of Arroyo Drive, and Perez became a fugitive.

Despite Perez's arrest on suspicion of the killing, what happened between to the two men remains unclear, Shonka said.

"We have no idea. It's an unknown motive. When we spoke to (Perez), he denied any involvement."

Perez was arrested on suspicion of murdering Martinez-Quinone Feb. 5 after he was found to be serving time in an Orange County jail for an unrelated assault and drug possession conviction under the alias of Aron Montalvo, the detective said.

Jailed in Orange County in July of last year, homicide detectives allowed him to serve out his sentence before arresting him on suspicion of the South Pasadena slaying.

He's due to be arraigned March 10 in Alhambra Superior Court, court officials said.

The officer approached a car about 4:20 a.m. on Nov. 22, 2009, in the 1000 block of Arroyo Drive when Perez, sitting in the driver's seat, uttered something unintelligible at the him and ran away, investigators said. Martinez-Quionone's body was then found in the passenger seat of the car Perez was not found after a lengthy search.

Nothing found in the car shed any light on a possible motive in the killing, Shonka said, and the murder weapons has not been found.

Coroner's officials reported there were no drugs in Martinez-Quinones body other than alcohol, she added.

Martinez-Quinone was a Guatemalan national who moved to the U.S. about a year before his slaying, investigators said, and Perez is a Mexican national believed to be involved in human smuggling.

Both were living in Los Angeles at the time of the shooting.

Perez was being held without bail because of a hold from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to sheriff's booking records.