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Itzcoatl Ocampo, 23, who was caught Jan. 13 in Anaheim, Calif., and charged with killing four homeless men, is linked to two other slayings, police said Thursday.
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- An ex-Marine charged with killing four homeless men in Southern California has been linked to the stabbing deaths of a woman and her son, police said Thursday at a news conference.
Itzcoatl Ocampo, 23, has been connected with Eder Herrera, the suspect in the Orange County stabbings in October, said Anaheim Lt. Julia Harvey of the Homeless Homicide Taskforce.
Police would not comment on the connection between Ocampo and Herrera, but based on the location of the crime, the proximity to his residence and the modus operandi (MO), they are linking the two incidents previously thought to be separate, Harvey said.
Raquel Estrada and her son Juan Herrera were killed in October in Yorba Linda, less than two miles from Ocampo's home. Eder Herrera is Raquel Estrada's 24-year-old son and was arrested soon after the two killings.
Ocampo, an Iraq War veteran, was arrested Jan. 13 and charged with the murders of four homeless men in Orange County, including Anaheim, Placentia and Yorba Linda.
Police at the time said they were "extremely confident" that they had taken into custody the man responsible for the slayings.
Warrants: Man held in homeless killings said he stalked victim
Shortly after his arrest, prosecutors said they would consider seeking the death penalty against him.
"In each of these cases, the violence, the number of stab wounds increased," Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas told NBCLA.
Authorities say Ocampo's killing spree targeted James Patrick McGillivray, 53, who was stabbed Dec. 20 near a shopping center in Placentia; Lloyd Middaugh, 42, who was found Dec. 28 near a riverbed trail in Anaheim; Paulus Smit, 57, who was stabbed to death outside a Yorba Linda library on Dec. 30; and John Berry, 64, who was stabbed to death on the day Ocampo was arrested.
Each of the four men was stabbed more than 40 times with a weapon believed to be a 7-inch fixed-blade military-type knife, authorities said.
Before Ocampo's Jan. 13 arrest, police had fanned out across the county better known as the home to Disneyland and multimillion-dollar beachfront homes to urge the homeless to be careful and seek shelter indoors.
An arraignment for Ocampo scheduled for Jan. 18 was postponed to Feb. 17. He remains jailed without bail, NBCLA said.
NBCLosAngeles.com and The Associated Press contributed to this story.
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News
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Very poorly written article. I had to do some research to figure out what the author was trying to say. So sad to see the terrible state of professional writing on the internet these days.
It hardly even qualifies as professional writing. More like high school drop-outs, paid minimum wage to fill in where words are needed. Between the grammatical mistakes, the lack of information and just plain lousy reporting, it seems to me MSNBC is hiring on the cheap. This begs the question..................are the stories even accurate?
Of course you have to add the Ex-Marine into the headlines. As low brow as the quality of the writing. I predict an Ex-Reporter in the near future.
Being a (former) Marine I find it very degrading to those that have served with honor and continued to conduct themselves with pride and dignity after they left the Corps.
This kind of garbage was started after Vietnam. Many of those that came home were treated badly. The buy line was "VIETNAM VETERAN"
As bad as some of you are against this present war I hope you are smart enough to go down the same road again.
These men and women deserve much better treatment than those that have went before.
Don't judge them by the few bad apples
GM, I had many friends who were in the Vietnam War. The media played so much of that up, that it's no wonder the veterans were treated badly. I never understood that, it was not the vets that decided to go over there and fight that war, it was the government! Veterans have and always will rate very highly in my family. There are 25 of them from my father to present day young adults. My oldest son is a 25 yr Air Force retiree, his brother a Navy Vet. I am glad they had the chance to serve.
Those who have never srved, don't need to complain.....especially about the troops that fight for their freedoms. We are currently in a situation that is really getting scarry, and I pray every day that those still in the "zones" come home safely. However, the damage may have already been done. I am sure we will see more military personnel and ex-military in situations such as this young man. Who knows what triggered that. It's really sad though.
Patricia, What freedoms are we fighting for over there? We threw away all our freedoms here. The people over there do not feel safer now that we are there “fighting for freedom.” I served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. The current wars are not making us more secure and are not giving us or anyone else freedom. The wars we are now fighting are wars to take away freedom. We are butchering hundreds of thousands of innocent unarmed civilians and terrorizing half of the world. Why? Every time we attack another country it increases the danger to all Americans. Eventually the rest of the world will grow a backbone and stand up to the bully. Russia, China, Brazil, and Pakistan are all nuclear nations. They are forming alliances. Other nations will join them. America is begging for all other nations on earth to join forces to teach the bully a lesson. America is terrorizing the world. It will not end well.
Arthur - I fought for the freedom of the 20 Iraqi crew members I worked with on a daily basis. I am lucky enough to still have contact with most of them after 5 years. THAT is part of the freedom I fought for. You served during the Vietnam War, but obviously didn't server IN Vietnam. If you did, you stayed behind the wire and never met the real people. I don't care what the U.S. government went to war over. I made a promise and kept it. I protected those who could not protect themselves and fought for those who could not fight. Retired at 42 and was always a ground pounder. Would do it again if I could.
For awhile I worked with a guy who arrived 'in country' in 'Nam three days before the Tet Offensive. He had quite the hairy introduction. He didn't say much other than that and his privacy was respected.
Another guy was sleeping and became aware of someone creeping up on him. The attacker was killed in the struggle. The guy was shaken when he saw the kid was about nine years old. He said he had years of nightmares.
An individual I've known for years has said he self-medicated for many years before he could banish his daemons. He's a personable quiet person.
Another individual was there as a sniper. The survival habits of observing surroundings for cover in the event remains with him to this day.
My uncle did three tours in 'Nam and retired as a WO4. He's mentioned some incidents, and tactics, at rough bases. The problem then, as it is now, is identifying friend from foe.
As for me, well, I was refuelling my vehicle when a person saw my Veteran disabled plates. He came over and asked where I was posted in 'Nam. I felt sad about having to gently tell him I had never been there having still been in the non-college public education system. He said; "You'd never understand" and slowly walked away. He's right. He needed to talk to someone who had been there. I wasn't that person and couldn't help him.
Our experiences shape us-for better or worse. It seems to me, people get caught up by their automatic responses born in one environment while living in a different one. How do you combat that?
You answered your own question. He needed someone to talk to. I worked in the homeless community for years. Most of the men at that time where Vietnam Vets. There were living with PTSD, Chemical Dependency, and had a pelethera of other health issues.
Trying to advocate with the VA was useless. So we just started our own little grous in the camps...meetings for Vets. It was good for they guys. Some even entered the system for help w/Mental Illness, Dependency/Housing, etc.
Now with our returning Iraqi/Afghan Vets we are seeing much of the same non-response. While there is greater awareness, services and resources remain static. And the numbers are even larger because of the length of the wars.
Next time that happens, (and it will, he didn't approach you just because of your plates) ask the soldier if they have any connection with Vet groups...familiarize yourself with some entry point for them, grass roots orgs are the best place to start, and listen to them anyway.
Bless your Uncle and You.
I no Like Merica...I not from US...I Report..I see car..car go very fast..car miss studant...car miss treee...
I no learn engrish....maybe yu like me...maybe yu no like me..
Yeah the reporting seems to be like the above paragraph.
With some research and development perhaps we can STOP OUTSOURCING our reporting and news gathering and HIRE AMERICANS who can do the job!
If the writer graduated from LA Unified School District,it would explain the quality of his/her writing deficiences!
I thought it was me! I re-read the article 3 times. Very incoherent. You see more and more writing like this - what gives?
American soldiers have been trained and permitted to be “trigger happy” overseas. It is logical that some soldiers who have some personal weaknesses may become addicted to the thrill of killing unarmed innocent civilians. We can expect many more cases like this in the coming years as the chickens come home to roost.
You seriously need to pull your head out. You have no idea of the training we received yet you run your mouth. Our rules of engagement were very specific. Get a clue, Arthur and quit talking about things you know nothing about. Freedom of speech, but not freedom of ignorance.