ANAHEIM, Calif., Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Southern California officials say they believe a Yorba Linda man is connected to the slayings of four homeless men in north Orange County.
Anaheim police identified the suspect as Itzcoatl Ocampo, 23, who police said was arrested Friday night after the fatal stabbing of a homeless man next to a trash enclosure behind a fast-food restaurant in the city, The Orange County Register reported Saturday.
The other three victims also were stabbed, and Ocampo fit the description of the killer seen in a surveillance video of the Dec. 29 slaying of James McGillivray, a 53-year-old homeless man who was stabbed to death while sleeping outside a Placentia shopping center, authorities said.
Anaheim police Sgt. Bob Dunn said the latest victim, a man in his 60s who has not been identified, was discovered 8:15 p.m. Friday next to the trash enclosure where he was killed behind a Carl's Jr. restaurant.
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A tribute to the latest victim, known to locals as John, of candles, balloons, cookies and a gray-white stuffed elephant sits next to the trash enclosure. Locals turned out Saturday to pay respects to the man, who they recalled as a friendly, God-fearing man who bore a resemblance to Santa Claus.
Officers responded to a report of an assault in progress and found the victim dead in the parking lot, and witnesses followed the man who stabbed him from the crime scene and pointed him out to officers, the Register said.
The other two homeless victims of the suspected serial killer were identified as Lloyd Middaugh, 42, whose body was found near a riverbed trail in Anaheim Dec. 28, and Paulus Smit, 57, who was found dead a Yorba Linda library Dec. 30.
