Murder suspect eyed in case of missing relatives in Texas
Illegal immigrant who has been deported six times and has been charged with attacking homeless men in California is now a person of interest in the disappearance of family members in Houston.
An illegal immigrant who was deported six times could get the death penalty if he's convicted in the vicious murders of three men who were beaten with a baseball bat, officials said Wednesday.
Ramon Escobar, a 47-year-old El Salvadoran national, was arrested Monday in Santa Monica after allegedly attacking a homeless man. Escobar was charged with three counts of murder, five counts of attempted murder and four counts of second-degree robbery, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced.
“This is a violent predator,” LAPD Capt. William Hayes said Wednesday. “Without engaging the individuals at all, he just savagely attacks them with a baseball bat.”
Ramon Escobar, who was deported from the United States six times was expected in court Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2018, to face charges after police say he killed three people and injured four in attacks targeting sleeping homeless men in California (Texas Department of Public Safety via AP)
Escobar, who police believe was homeless at the time of his arrest, has a violent criminal history and was repeatedly deported. He had no outstanding warrants, however, when he was questioned Aug. 30 about the disappearance of his aunt and he was released, Houston police said Wednesday. Investigators spoke with him because he was the last person to see Dina Escobar, 65, before she vanished, police said.
After being questioned in Houston, Los Angeles detectives believe he drove to the area and, within days of his arrival, attacked his first victim in Santa Monica. Authorities said the victim suffered blunt force trauma and didn’t remember the Sept. 8 incident, KTLA reported.
Two days later, police said Escobar attacked another person in Santa Monica and left the victim in a coma. Escobar then went to the downtown Los Angeles area and attacked three more homeless men, police said. Two of the men who were beaten in the downtown assault were killed, police said.
On Sept. 20, police believe he went back to Santa Monica where he robbed and beat another man to death. Escobar allegedly also attacked an eighth person within the timeframe.
This undated file photo from surveillance video provided by the Los Angele Police Department shows a man they are seeking in connection with the assault on multiple homeless men who were brutally beaten with a baseball bat in Los Angeles early Sunday, Sept. 16, 2018. (Los Angeles Police Department via AP, File)
Escobar has six felony convictions for burglary and illegal re-entry. He was ordered removed from the U.S. by an immigration judge in 1998 and had been deported back to El Salvador six times between 1997 and 2011.
Escobar won an appeal in immigration court in December 2016, however, and was released from ICE custody on an “order of supervision” in January 2017, ICE spokesperson Paige Hughes told Reuters.
Separately, Escobar was convicted in May of misdemeanor assault in Texas.
Late Wednesday, Escobar was considered to be a person of interest in the disappearance of Dina Escobar and her brother Rogelio Escobar, 65. Authorities announced foul play was involved in their disappearances.
“You don’t think that a family member is going to be charged with crimes that may be connected,” Lia Salamanco, Ramon Escobar’s cousin, told CBS Los Angeles. “Or the gruesomeness of the details of those crimes. “It’s been very surreal for the whole family.”
Dina Escobar and Rogelio Escobar vanished last month. (Houston Police Department via AP)
Escboar told KTRK-TV her cousin never came across as violent and wasn’t a source of trouble for her family.
“She loved him as she would a son,” she said of her mother’s feelings toward Ramon Escobar.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said the case is still under investigation.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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