Thread: Body Dumped In Bonita Appears To Be Homicide

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Body Dumped In Bonita, CA Appears To Be Homicide
Man's Body Found Wrapped In Tarp

POSTED: 3:08 pm PDT August 22, 2005

SAN DIEGO -- A homicide investigation is under way Monday into the death of a Tijuana man whose body was dumped next to a Bonita-area intersection over the weekend, a sheriff's detective said.

A passer-by found the body of 31-year-old Ricardo Escobar Luna wrapped in a blue tarp at Ola Court and Vista Drive about 7:30 a.m. Saturday, according to investigators.

Physical trauma that led to Luna's death "is consistent with that of a homicide," sheriff's Lt. Thomas Bennett said.

"Indications are the victim was dumped in the location within 24 hours of the discovery," the lieutenant said.

Authorities withheld specifics about the dead man's injuries "so as not to interfere with the homicide investigation," he said.

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Authorities quiet about Mexican found dead in Bonita

By Anna Cearley
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 28, 2005

Ricardo Escobar Luna's dead body was wrapped in a blue tarp and dumped at the side of a busy Bonita intersection in a way that is eerily similar to the tactics used by drug traffickers in Mexico.

Sheriff's deputies sealed the autopsy report, and they wouldn't talk about the cause of death. They also would not provide details about the condition of the body, which was found Aug. 20. Deputies would only say that the killing was "unusual."

Some of the answers may come from Mexico, homicide Lt. Tom Bennett said.

"His primary residence was in Mexico, and he apparently had business dealings in Mexico on a frequent basis," Bennett said, declining to elaborate.

Escobar, 31, apparently divided his time between Tijuana and a house his wife and children lived in for at least a year in the unincorporated Sunnyside neighborhood in the South Bay. He worked briefly as a Baja California state police agent in the 1990s, along with other members of his family, according to Mexican authorities.

He had a brother, Victor Magno Escobar Luna, who is a suspected member of the Arellano Félix drug organization, according to an official at the Mexican Federal Attorney General's Office and an official with a U.S. law enforcement agency.

Both requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the case and concern about retaliation.

Neither of the brothers apparently had a criminal record in the United States, the U.S. official said.

In Mexico, however, Victor Escobar was named the prime suspect by Baja California state investigators in the Jan. 1, 2003, ambush killing of two city police officers.

Bennett said investigators haven't determined whether the killing of Ricardo Escobar is linked to drug trafficking.

"We haven't narrowed our focus in any one area," he said.

The Arellanos, who are believed to control the flow of drugs from Tijuana into the United States, are known to treat victims ruthlessly, even chopping up body parts. But the Arellanos have suffered a series of arrests in recent years that some in law enforcement believe is prompting similar acts of brutality by other drug groups interested in taking over the region.

Though most violence between Mexican drug groups takes place south of the border, San Diego investigators occasionally encounter a spill-over effect because some members of the groups are known to live in San Diego County.

A report in one Mexican newspaper said that Ricardo Escobar had been severely beaten.

"We know so little about the case that the body has great value to us," Bennett said. "We aren't going to be talking about any specifics of the trauma to the body, and the value of that is the information is only known to the suspects and people who know about it."

According to the Medical Examiner's Office, about 15 or 20 of the last 150 autopsies in homicide cases have been sealed.

Ricardo Escobar served as a state agent from 1995 to 1996, and he left with a clean record, according to the Baja California State Attorney General's Press Office. The Tijuana newspaper Frontera reported that Ricardo Escobar's brother Victor was also a former state police agent, but an agency spokeswoman said they had no record of his being an officer.

In 2003, however, Mexican state authorities identified their family as having several relatives who worked as police officers, mostly in the 1990s.

Nobody answered the door last week when a reporter visited the one-story home where Ricardo Escobar's family lived in Sunnyside. The 2,015-square-foot house was for sale, with an asking price of between $680,000 and $705,000.

A neighbor, who didn't want to be identified out of fear of retaliation, said a woman and a man lived there and they had two small children. The neighbor said the family had been living there for a year or more, and they appeared to be renting the property.

"There were always a lot of people coming in and out of that house," said the neighbor, who never socialized with them. They didn't, however, cause any problems, the neighbor said. A few days ago, shortly after Escobar was found dead, police showed up at the house and the remaining family members appeared to have left, the neighbor said.

Property records showed the house was not in the name of Escobar or the woman identified by authorities as his wife.

Sheriff's deputies are seeking the public's help in the case. Escobar may have been dead for about 24 hours before his body was found near the intersection of Ola Court and Vista Drive.

The night prior to the discovery of the body, there was a party in the area, Bennett said, and it's likely someone saw people tossing what may have looked like an awkward lump of plastic, he said. Anyone with information can call the Sheriff's Homicide Detail at (85 974-2321 during the day or (85 565-5200 in the evening or Crime Stoppers at (88 580-8477.