ANAHEIM, Calif., Jan. 16 (UPI) -- The suspect in the killing of four homeless men in Southern California is the son a homeless man who said he lives in the cab of a big rig in a parking lot.
Itzcoatl Ocampo, 23, of Yorba Linda, was arrested Friday night after the fatal stabbing of John Berry, 64, a homeless man, next to a trash enclosure behind a fast-food restaurant in Anaheim.
The suspect's father, Refugio Ocampo, 49, told the Los Angeles Times his son had shown him a flier seeking information about the deaths of one of the homeless men and said: "Look at this. I'm worried something might happen to you."
Refugio Ocampo, who said he has been homeless since 2008 and sleeps in the cab of a truck in a parking lot in Fullerton, said: "He was very afraid for me because I am homeless. I told him, 'You don't need to worry about me, mijo. I am a survivor.'"
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Three days later, the younger Ocampo was arrested in the stabbing deaths of four homeless men in Orange County from Dec. 20-Jan. 13. Police said Itzcoatl Ocampo had no criminal background, and his parents told the Times he never got into trouble growing up in Orange County, where has lived since he was 7 months old.
The family came from Mexico City, and Itzcoatl lived with his mother, brother and sister in Yorba Linda. Itzcoatl Ocampo, a Marine corporal, had served 2006-2010, including eight months in Iraq, The Orange County Register reported.
Refugio Ocampo said his son came out of the Marines lacking the ambition he once had and seemingly with little motivation.
The other three victims of the slayings have been identified as James McGillivray, 53, stabbed to death Dec. 20 in Placentia; Lloyd Middaugh, 42, whose body was found Dec. 28 on the Santa Ana River Trail in Anaheim; and Paulus Cornelius Smit, 57, found dead Dec. 30 behind the Yorba Linda Public Library.
