Crime & Safety
Arrests Made in Long Beach Homeless Murders
On the heels of O.C.'s dramatic arrest of accused serial homeless killer, Long Beach police chief, mayor, plan press conference about 2008 case of five shot to death at a freeway encampment.
Long Beach police today announced they've made arrests in connection with shooting deaths of five people more than three years ago at a homeless encampment near the San Diego (405) Freeway.
The victims were found about 8:30 a.m. Nov. 2, 2008, near the Santa Fe Avenue offramp from the freeway, the Long Beach Police Department reported.
Long Beach police Chief Jim McDonnell and Mayor Bob Foster planned an afternoon news conference to discuss the case, the day after District Attorney Tony Rackauckas held a press conference to discuss extensive details in the investigation of four slayings of homeless men since December. Those murders appeared quite different and involved men who were each stabbed 40 to 60 times.
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A veteran from Yorba Linda has been arrested and charged in that case, and his attorney has said he will plead not-guilty.
Police identified the dead as: Hamid Shraifat, 41, of Signal Hill; Vanessa Malaepule, 34, of Carson; and Frederick Doyle Neumeier, 53, Katherine Verdun, 24, and Jose Lorenzo Villicana, 44, all of Long Beach. Authorities did not immediately say how many arrests were made.
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--with City News Service reports.
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