Judge: Murder suspect an 'extreme danger'

Judge: Murder suspect an 'extreme danger'

By Teri Figueroa3:09 p.m.June 17, 2013

VISTA — A 24-year-old Oceanside man pleaded not guilty Monday to murder after police found his girlfriend’s body under a bed last week in their shared home.
Arturo Salazar faces 26 years to life in prison if convicted of the charge, which includes an allegation that he used a knife.
Edith Andrea Garcia’s throat was slit, said Deputy District Attorney Ryan Saunders.
Vista Superior Court Judge Marshall Hocket called Salazar an “extreme danger to the community” and granted Saunders’ request to set bail at $5 million. (I.C.E. has place a hold on him.) Per the local TV news.
Officers found Garcia, 21, about noon Thursday in a makeshift bedroom in the garage of an Oceanside house on Leeward Court, south of Mesa Drive and east of Foussat Road.
She and Salazar lived with their two children in the garage, which had been converted to a studio apartment, Saunders said.
After Garcia’s body was found, the children — a 2-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl — were placed in the custody of their maternal grandmother, authorities said.
Police had gone to the home to look for Garcia after her stepfather reported that he had not been able to reach her for about a day and a half.
Salazar told Garcia’s family that she had walked out after an argument. When detectives questioned Salazar on Thursday, he eventually admitted that he had killed his girlfriend during an argument, police said.
Saunders said authorities believe the children were in the room when their mother was killed.
KNSD, Channel 7, reported last week that Salazar said in a jailhouse interview that he had killed Garcia and then hid her body so the children would not see her when they woke up.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/jun/17/Oceanside-girlfriend-murder-arraignment-salazar/