ANAHEIM, Calif., Jan. 15 (UPI) -- A southern California man suspected in the killing of four homeless men had been distraught after returning from service in Iraq, friends and family said.
Itzcoatl Ocampo, 23, 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 Orange County Register reported Saturday.
Ocampo is being held without bail and is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times said. Police will seek four counts of murder.
"When he came back from Iraq, he was sick," Ocampo's uncle, Ifrain Gonzalez, told the Times.
Brian Doyle, a high school friend of the suspect, said Ocampo was a little goofy in high school, but came back from Iraq in the summer of 2010 a different person.
"You could just tell something was stressed about him," Doyle said. "I just wanted to be a friend to him."
Anaheim police suspect Ocampo of killing three other homeless men: Lloyd Middaugh, 42, whose body was found Dec. 28, James McGillivray, 53, who was stabbed to death in his sleep Dec. 29 and Paulus Smit, 57, whose body was found Dec. 30, the Register reported.
"We are extremely confident that we have the man who is responsible for the murders of all four homeless men in Orange County," Anaheim Police Chief John Welter said at a news conference Saturday.
