Thread: Itzcoatl Ocampo Accused of Serial Murder of Homeless, O.C., CA.

Published: Jan. 14, 2012 Updated: 6:27 p.m.

Home of serial-killer suspect searched

BY SALVADOR HERNANDEZ, LARRY WELBORN, ERIKA I. RITCHIE AND DENISSE SALAZAR / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

ANAHEIM – Investigators searched a Yorba Linda home Saturday morning, the home of a 23-year-old man suspected of stabbing and killing a homeless man Friday night.

The owner of the five-acre property said he was told investigators took shoes, clothing, and a computer belonging to the 23-year-old suspect.

Itzcoatl Ocampo was arrested in connection with the stabbing death of a homeless man in Anaheim on Friday. Ocampo, 23, of Yorba Linda was seen running and shedding clothes as he ran from a Carl's Jr. restaurant, where a homeless man was found stabbed to death Friday night.

MINDY SCHAUER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Itzcoatl Ocampo, of Yorba Linda, was seen running and shedding clothes Friday night after a transient was stabbed to death behind a Carl's Jr. restaurant near La Palma Avenue and Imperial Highway.

The Friday night death was the fourth time a homeless man was stabbed to death in the area in less than four weeks, and law enforcement officials from four local police agencies and the FBI are looking into Ocampo's connection to all four deaths.

Investigators searching for a serial killer are scrambling to find out what they can about a 23-year-old man who was tackled as he ran from the scene.

After Ocampo was taken into custody, investigators from the task force probing the serial killings began looking into his background, but authorities said the 23-year-old man had no criminal history and not much information is known about him.

Court records show that a man named Itzcoatl Ocampo had three minor traffic citations in recent years.

Ocampo is not homeless, officials said.

His picture is included in a 2006 yearbook of Esperanza High School.

Anaheim police arrested Ocampo shortly after a fourth homeless man was stabbed to death about 8:15 p.m. Friday next to a trash enclosure at a Carl's Jr. restaurant at the intersection of La Palma Avenue and Imperial Highway.

That victim, a man in his early 60s who was known as John by his friends, has not been officially identified by authorities.

On Saturday morning, more than a dozen law enforcement officials executed a search warrant at a home in the 4300 block of Lakeview Avenue, near Bastanchury Road, where Itzcoatl Ocampo had been living.

Officers showed up about 10 p.m. Friday and searched the three-bedroom, two-bath home until about 7 a.m. Saturday.

The home sits on a five-acre horse ranch owned by Carol and Jim Tice, both 59, of Yorba Linda.

Jim Tice said he was been renting the home to Raul Ocampo -- who he believes to be the suspect's uncle -- for about five years.

Tice said Raul Ocampo has always been punctual with rent, painted the house and made repairs to the 90-year-old home.

"He is the perfect tenant," Tice said. "Raul is a really nice guy...really kind."

About six months ago, Tice said Raul Ocampo's sister moved in with her younger daughter and two older sons.

When police removed the crime scene tape from the home, Tice said he went to talk to Raul Ocampo and said he told him that police took his nephew's shoes, clothing and a computer.

Witnesses said Ocampo was followed by officers after the Friday night stabbing occurred, helping police take Ocampo into custody.

Louis Garcia lives in the nearby Friendly Village Mobile Home Park just east of the shopping center. He said witnesses to the stabbing followed the suspect as he ran along the sidewalk shedding clothes until he tried to bolt over a block wall about a quarter of a mile away from the stabbing site.

That's when a security guard there pulled him down, Garcia said.

"Within minutes, police had him surrounded and sat him down on La Palma Avenue," Garcia said. "He sat there wearing a red hoodie with his arms crossed. His face was expressionless."

By then, more than 100 police officers had arrived at the scene. Roads were blocked with patrol cars and flairs, and the sidewalk was cordoned with yellow police tape. People in the shopping center were told to stay where they were until the crime scene was secured.

Authorities believe the Ocampo is connected to the recent slayings of three other homeless men in north Orange County.

All four victims were middle-aged men, a factor shared by most homeless victims of violent crime, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless.

Since 1999, the group has been recording incidents of violent crimes perpetuated against the homeless throughout the country. According to a report issued by the Washington D.C.-based group this week, 65 percent of the homeless victims of such crimes are between the ages of 40 and 60.

The perpetrators of such crimes are usually young men with a limited education, according to the report. Nearly 80 percent of the suspects in recorded incidents were under the age of 25.

Suspect shed clothes as police chased him | police, garcia, death - News - The Orange County Register

Suspect in O.C. killings of homeless men is an Iraq war veteran

Former Marine Itzcoatl Ocampo, 23, of Yorba Linda appeared deeply troubled when he returned home and for a year had been telling relatives that he was seeing and hearing things, an uncle says.

January 14, 2012, 9:16 p.m.

A 23-year-old former Marine who some say was distraught after combat service in Iraq has been named a suspect in the serial killings of four homeless men in Orange County.

Itzcoatl Ocampo of Yorba Linda was chased by bystanders Friday after the most recent stabbing death behind a fast-food restaurant in an Anaheim shopping center parking lot. Ocampo remained in police custody without bail Saturday and is expected in court on Tuesday.

"We are extremely confident that we have the man who is responsible for the murders of all four homeless men in Orange County," Anaheim Police Chief John Welter said at a news conference Saturday. Police said they will seek four counts of murder next week.

Authorities did not specify a motive for the killings, which began on Dec. 20 and sent fear through the homeless community. However, a relative and a friend of the suspect described a young man who appeared to be deeply troubled after his return from service in Iraq in the summer of 2010.

"When he came back from Iraq, he was sick," said his uncle, Ifrain Gonzalez.

For the last year, he had been telling relatives that he was seeing and hearing things, Gonzalez said.

The last time Gonzalez saw his nephew was at a Christmas Eve party. Ocampo, he said, had told a cousin, "I did something terrible, but don't worry."

It was four days after the killings had begun.

Brian Doyle, a friend from high school, said Ocampo told him he had been kicked out of the military. A Marine Corps representative could not be reached Saturday for confirmation, and Anaheim police declined to discuss Ocampo's military service.

Since Ocampo's return, he had socialized with Doyle from time to time, drinking beer, smoking cigars and talking.

He was arrested Friday evening after bystanders chased him down about a quarter mile from the shopping center where police found the body of John Berry, 64, near a trash bin behind a Carl's Jr. restaurant.

On Saturday, a makeshift memorial of balloons, flowers and oatmeal cookies stood at the site of the homeless man's death, near La Palma Avenue and Imperial Highway. Mourners described him as a familiar and friendly presence outside the restaurant.

Berry had a long white beard and often ended a conversation with a blessing. Friends said he was an astronomy buff and carried a well-thumbed Audubon guide, as well as a Bible. Berry enjoyed identifying the fowl visiting nearby waterways, said friend Bill Emery. "One day he pointed out a duck and said, 'That's a cinnamon teal.' "

Berry was less forthcoming about his own family. He told some people that they lived in Costa Rica and others that he was from back East and that his father was a physician.

With a serial killer targeting homeless men, friends and acquaintances said, they worried for Berry's safety.

At first, Berry said he wasn't scared. He was interviewed earlier this month by a Times reporter at the camp along the nearby Santa Ana River bed where he had been living for months under a tarp. He said he was safer there than in a shelter.

"I just like to stay outdoors," Berry said. "A guy can get killed crossing the street. I've been as careful as I can, watching and everything."

Police had warned him to leave, but he refused.

In his final days, however, Berry grew more afraid.

Marilyn Holland, 51, who lives in a mobile home park near the shopping center, said that she saw Berry on Thursday and that he told her he thought somebody was stalking him from the trees along the riverbed.

She said she planned to buy him a prepaid cellphone but never got the chance.

Holland and others said he would be missed. "He knew everybody around here by their first name," she said.

Linda Maher, who also lives in the mobile home park, said she talked to Berry on Friday and told him to be careful.

"God bless you," he replied.

At an 8 p.m. vigil for Berry on Saturday, a crowd of more than 100 people gathered to pay respects. Some held candles, while children passed out yarn necklaces with plastic military toy figures as charms. A recording of the Beatles' "Yesterday" played.

Shaun Smith, a homemaker from Yorba Linda, set up a table where she handed out candles. "I used to say. 'John, what do you need?' and he said, 'Nothing. I like to go to sleep under the stars and wake up to the birds,' " she said. "He liked his life."

A task force of local police departments, the Orange County Sheriff's Department and the FBI had been investigating the stabbing deaths for nearly a month, and determined quickly that they were looking at the work of a serial killer.

The other victims were James Patrick McGillivray, 53, who was killed near a shopping center in Placentia on Dec. 20; Lloyd Middaugh, 42, whose body was found in Anaheim on Dec. 28; and Paulus Smit, 57, who was slain in Yorba Linda on Dec. 30.

Ocampo was born in Mexico and moved to California with his family when he was 1, according to Gonzalez, his uncle. His 2006 graduation photograph in the Esperanza High School yearbook shows a young man with close-cropped hair in a jacket and tie. Below his portrait is the quote, "Walk the streets I walked alone, then sit and judge me."

At the time, according to his uncle and his friend, Ocampo had one goal: getting away from home. His parents, who both worked in factories, were splitting up, and their house in Yorba Linda was being foreclosed on.

So Ocampo joined the U.S. Marine Corps.

It did not go well. "I feel alone in the middle of the desert," his uncle remembered Ocampo telling him in a phone call from Iraq.

When he returned to the U.S., Ocampo moved into a rented bedroom that he shared with his mother and a younger sister and brother in Yorba Linda. His main activity was playing video games, Gonzalez said. Things got worse when he learned a good friend had been killed in Afghanistan.

Gonzalez said appointments to get his nephew psychological help had been made and canceled several times.

In high school, Ocampo had been reserved and "a little goofy," Doyle said. But when he returned home from military service, he seemed like a different person.

"You could just tell something was stressed about him," Doyle said. "I just wanted to be a friend to him."

Ocampo also donated money to help make a documentary about wounded Marines, according to a website for the unfinished film, titled "Still in the Fight."

Among those who made the pilgrimage to Berry's memorial site on Saturday was a homeless man who identified himself only as Kevin.

Even with the arrest, Kevin said he remained uneasy.

"I don't feel too safe to see my friend has passed away," he said. "But in God's giving grace, let's hope they got the right guy."

nicole.santacruz@latimes.com

alan.zarembo@latimes.com

Suspect in O.C. killings of homeless men is an Iraq war veteran - latimes.com

Originally Posted by stevetheroofer

I don't know why, I just knew!

I guess the word *stabbing* took away the surprise. Knives and illegals go together like an illegal and foodstamps.

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

Ocampo was born in Mexico and moved to California with his family when he was 1, according to Gonzalez, his uncle.

Suspect in O.C. killings of homeless men is an Iraq war veteran - latimes.com

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AP NewsBreak: Dad of CA killings suspect homeless

By CHRISTOPHER WEBER, Associated Press
3:06 p.m., Jan. 15, 2012

YORBA LINDA, Calif. — The father of the man suspected of killing homeless men in Southern California is himself homeless and says his son last week showed him a picture of one victim as a warning of the danger of being on the streets.

Refugio Ocampo, 49, also told The Associated Press on Sunday that his son came back a changed man after serving with the Marines in Iraq, expressing disillusionment and becoming ever darker as he struggled to find his way as a civilian.

The father said he lost his job and home, and ended up living under a bridge before finding shelter in the cab of a broken-down big-rig he is helping repair.

His 23-year-old son, Itzcoatl Ocampo, was arrested Friday in connection with the serial killings of four homeless men since late December.

Refugio Ocampo said that on Jan. 11 his son came to him with a picture of the first victim, who was killed on Dec. 20.

"This is what's happening," the father quoted his son as saying.

"He was very worried about me. I told him, `Don't worry. I'm a survivor. Nothing will happen to me. I will find something. Count on it,'" the father said.

While Refugio Ocampo lives away from his family, they remain close. He saw his children every day, and his wife brings food to the parking lot where the truck is located in the city of Fullerton.

Itzcoatl Ocampo has been living with his mother, uncle, and little brother and sister in a humble rented house on a horse ranch surrounded by the sprawling suburbs of Yorba Linda.

Refugio Ocampo, who said he was educated as a lawyer in Mexico, immigrated with his wife and Itzcoatl in 1988 and became a U.S. citizen. He described building a successful life in which he became a warehouse manager and bought a home in Yorba Linda. In the past few years he lost his job, ran out of savings and lost his house.

His son entered the Marine Corps right out of high school in 2006 instead of going to college as his father had hoped. Itzcoatl Ocampo was discharged in 2010 and returned home to find his family in disarray, the father said.

Refugio Ocampo and his youngest son, Mixcoatl, 17, both described a physical condition Itzcoatl suffered in which his hands shook and he suffered headaches. Medical treatments helped until he started drinking heavily, both said.

"He started drinking like crazy, too much, way too much," the father said.

A neighbor who is a Vietnam veteran and the father both tried to push Itzcoatl to get treatment at a Veterans hospital, but he refused. Refugio Ocampo said he wanted his son to get psychological treatment as well.

"He started talking about stuff that didn't make any sense, that the end of the world was going to happen," he said.

"Before, he had the initiative to do things, the desire. But after the military, he didn't have any of that," he said.

That was far from the son who in high school was a polite and motivated student, he said.

Refugio Ocampo said investigators came to him on Friday night and showed him surveillance photos from a crime scene, but he did not recognize his son as the person in the images.

"If he did it, it wasn't right, obviously. But there's something wrong with him," he said.

AP NewsBreak: Dad of CA killings suspect homeless | UTSanDiego.com

Did Itzcoatl Ocampo Allegedly Become a Serial Killer Because He's a Marine, a Mexican, or an Aztec?

By Gustavo ArellanoSun., Jan. 15 2012 at 10:45 AM
Comments (52)
Categories: 2012 Homicides, Illegals, Illegals, Illegals!, Immigration

​Itzcoatl Ocampo, the 23-year-old Yorba Linda man arrested for allegedly being the serial killer who targeted homeless men in Orange County over the past month, is scheduled to appear Tuesday in Orange County Superior Court to face charges, but he's already the poster boy for three groups of people that have populated the comments section of local newspapers and media websites. Each attribute his pathology to a specific Ocampo personal trait without knowing jack shit about his mental makeup.

One group blames Ocampo's psychosis on him having served in Iraq with the Marines, a point bolstered by Ocampo's own relatives.

In this good Los Angeles Times profile, an uncle claims Ocampo claimed to see and hear things after returning from his Iraq tour. The statement has been immediately seized by many commenters, whom without knowing anything about Ocampo's life insist that his service turned Ocampo into a disturbed serial killer, and that more such cases will inevitably emerge--never mind that hundreds of thousands of armed forces members have returned from both Iraq and Afghanistan without having been transformed into serial killers.

The story also notes that Ocampo was born in Mexico, a point that Know Nothings have already seized and will only grow once it's determined if he entered this country legally or illegally. Since he was born in Mexico and Mexican immigrants--whether legal or illegal--are inherently crime-ridden, goes the logic, it follows that Ocampo killed because he wasn't born in this country.

Given our nation's current xenophobia toward anything brown and general fatigue with the Iraq War, that the above two camps have emerged isn't surprising. But the most bizarre conspiracy regarding Ocampo's motivations springs from his first name: Itzcoatl, a Nahuatl name meaning "obsidian serpent" that was the name of an Aztec emperor. White supremacists have already hopped on the following ludicrous conspiracy--that the name is what motivated Ocampo to commit his crimes, that the power of the bloodthirsty Aztecs reverberated across centuries to motivate the sick individual to target White men.

That's the opinion held by our own precious racialist, Costa Mesa pendejo Martin H. Millard. "We wonder if 'Itzcoatl' is this guy's real given name or if he's a Brown racist who took that name as some Brown racists do," he wrote over at the collection of digital dung known as the CM Press. You know, because anyone with a Nahuatl name is automatically capable of savagery--you know, because of the whole Aztec thing.

The details will ultimately emerge about Ocampo's reasoning for committing the murders (if he is in fact the serial killer, of which Anaheim police who arrested Ocampo on Friday are confident). Until then, one can only sit back and laugh at the above rationales--and cringe at how these people actually live among us.

Did Itzcoatl Ocampo Allegedly Become a Serial Killer Because He's a Marine, a Mexican, or an Aztec? - Orange County News - Navel Gazing

Suspected O.C. serial killer held in solitary confinement

January 16, 2012 | 2:49pm

A Yorba Linda man being held on suspicion of slaying four Orange County homeless men has been confined to a solitary jail cell and has refused requests for interviews, sheriff’s officials said Monday.

Itzcoatl Ocampo, 23, was arrested Friday after bystanders chased him after the stabbing death of John Berry, 64, behind a fast-food restaurant in an Anaheim shopping center parking lot. It was the fourth in the string of killings of homeless men.

The Orange County district attorney's office is expected to announce a decision on filing charges against Ocampo at a Tuesday-morning news conference with local and federal law enforcement agencies.

PHOTOS: Serial killer targets O.C. homeless

In a news release, prosecutors labeled the case a "serial murder-spree of four homeless men."

Ocampo is being held without bail in a solitary cell apart from other inmates at the Central Jail Complex in Santa Ana, a common practice in high-profile cases, said a sheriff's official. Ocampo's profession, listed in jail records, is clerk.

The only suspect in the slayings targeting homeless men, Ocampo is a former Marine who was increasingly troubled after returning from Iraq in 2010, friends and family have said.

The other victims were James Patrick McGillivray, 53, killed near a shopping center in Placentia on Dec. 20; Lloyd Middaugh, 42, whose body was found in Anaheim on Dec. 28; and Paulus Smit, 57, who was slain in Yorba Linda on Dec. 30.

Suspected O.C. serial killer held in solitary confinement - latimes.com

Giving illegals military training is sooooooo wrong. This could have been avoided.

Originally Posted by TakingBackSoCal

Giving illegals military training is sooooooo wrong. This could have been avoided.

You don't rally need military training to figure out how to pick up a knife and stab someone. This is on my TV right now.

Authorities: Boy, 12, Stabbed To Death By Another Boy, 10

POSTED: 1:52 pm PST January 16, 2012
UPDATED: 5:18 pm PST January 16, 2012

Boy Stabbed To Death By Another Boy In Lakeside Home - San Diego News Story - KGTV San Diego

That was an ASD black kid that stabbed a white kid and no hate crime was filed.