2 Held in Execution-Style Slaying of Couple

The decomposed bodies of a man and a woman shot to death at least a week ago were found in their Anaheim apartment, and two men were arrested Sunday in what police believe were drug-related, execution-style killings.

Anaheim detectives would not say precisely how they linked the suspects to the shootings of Ricardo Van Stubbs, 26, and his girlfriend, Suzanne Elizabeth Rivera, 23, who were found lying face down in the back bedroom of their fourplex in the 2500 block of Terrace Street late Saturday.

“There are indications there was drug involvement in the killings,” Anaheim Police Lt. Mark Hedgpeth said. “There are also indications of a residential robbery. . . . There was some evidence of drug use in the house, and it was over and above personal-use” quantity. The drug was either marijuana or cocaine or both, Hedgpeth said, though he declined to be more specific.

Autopsies Sunday afternoon found that Stubbs, who weighed 220 pounds, died of a single gunshot, while Rivera, who also weighed 220 pounds, died of multiple gunshots, Hedgpeth said. He would not say exactly how many times Rivera was wounded.

One suspect, John Roger Jordan, 26, was arrested about 7:30 a.m. Sunday at a Riverside apartment at 2052 Linden St., where he had been staying.

Suspect Held Without Bail

Jordan was being held without bail on suspicion of murder at the Anaheim city jail.

Hedgpeth would not say whether Jordan was armed at the time of his arrest, but he said a second man arrested in connection with the killings was unarmed.

Undercover Anaheim police officers arrested the second man about 4 p.m. outside a convenience store near the intersection of Main Street and Palmyra Avenue in Orange. Hedgpeth said he could not release the man’s name or age because police have been unable to verify his identity.

A team of Anaheim officers was looking Sunday for a possible third suspect in the slayings.

The dead couple lived alone in the two-bedroom apartment, although neighbors said another man occasionally stayed there with them.

The bodies had been in the apartment at least seven days before being discovered about 11 p.m. Saturday by a friend who went to the apartment.

The friend opened the front door but did not enter, instead summoning police, Hedgpeth said.

Officers responding to the call Saturday night found the apartment ransacked. Hedgpeth said property was taken, “we believe, sometime during the murders.” He would not elaborate but said detectives will seek armed robbery charges against Jordan.

The bodies were in the bedroom but not in the bed, lying clothed and face down. There was no sign of a struggle or a gun battle, Hedgpeth said.

‘A Business Arrangement’

Based on “a lot of things that were found in the bedroom, the position of the bodies, the way they were shot, the way they were laying,” Hedgpeth said, “it looks basically like they were executed. There was nothing written on the walls, written anywhere. It seemed much more like a business arrangement,” he said.

Officers said they were baffled that neighbors did not call police sooner.

“Even if they heard muffled gunshots they may have assumed it was the Disneyland fireworks,” said Hedgpeth. “Or they might have decided to close their door and mind their own business.”