All six 2013 murders involved guns, suspects in four slayings in custody
January 24, 2014
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula Times
Three were gunned down outside the home of a friend or relative, one was killed at a friend’s house, another was murdered at a park and the final victim of Santa Paula’s year of violence died inside a vehicle as he drove away from an area bar.
So went Santa Paula’s deadliest year with six homicides, a number only equaled in 2002 and an increase that followed years of few fatal incidents or in some years no homicides at all.
When 21-year-old Ulises Virto was gunned down outside a friend’s Dartmouth Road house on May 27 - just around the corner from his own residence - it signaled a wave of violence that saw one homicide per month for five months.
The murder was believed to be gang related and the suspect in Virto’s shooting, Omar Hernandez Ruiz, 26, a documented gang member was arrested in November following a brief standoff at a Camarillo home.
Santa Paula Police are still looking for the killer of Joseph Arellano, 24, shot in broad daylight while walking to the front door of his grandmother’s North 6th Street home.
The suspect in the June 28 slaying is 20-year-old Jessie Moten, a documented gang member; the SPPD has offered a reward for his capture. Arellano reportedly had distanced himself from gangs when he was gunned down.
Angela Bryant, a 33-year-old mother was shot once in what police believe was an altercation inside a residence in the 600 block of Ojai Road on July 17.
The suspect, Andres Rene Rodriguez, 28, a documented Oxnard gang member was later captured in Mexico.
Ramon Carrillo was killed August 24 at about 8 p.m. while sitting outside in a courtyard of a friend’s home located in the area of North Alley and 11th Street.
A member of the All Stone Krew tagging crew, Carrillo was a documented gang member.
Carrillo’s murder is the only 2013 homicide that SPPD have been unable to identify a suspect.
Aspiring photographer Ashley Calanche, 21, was killed in broad daylight when she was shot in the head on September 27 at Mill Park, near her home.
The suspect in her slaying, Yajaira Dominguez aka Yajaira Rosales, 31, of Santa Paula was taken into custody that evening after a standoff at a friend’s Casabella Court home.
Police Chief Steve McLean, a 33-year-veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office, said the Calanche slaying was highly unusual - the first of his career - where a woman allegedly killed another female.
The last homicide of the year also involved a gun:
Juan Manuel Bautista Banda, 22, died after being shot in the back of his head through the rear windshield of his SUV on December 22 at about 1:20 a.m. near Ruben’s Bar, located on the 1400 block of East Harvard Boulevard.
Arrested later that morning at a friend’s North 14th Street home was Jesus Montejo Cardoso, 29, of Santa Paula.
Cardoso and Banda, both Mexican nationals who worked in the agricultural industry, allegedly were involved in a long-running feud.
Santa Paula’s annual homicide rate since 2002 is: 2006 six (6) homicides; 2003 two (2) homicides; 2004 one (1) homicide; 2005 zero (0) homicide; 2006 one (1) homicide; 2007 zero (0) homicide; 2008 one (1) homicide; 2009 zero (0) homicide; 2010 one (1) homicide; 2011 one (1) homicide; and in 2012 two (2) homicides, including an officer involved shooting following an exchange of gunfire.
