LOCAL : Glendale Pastor in Molest Case Arleta Freeway Suicide Victim

A Glendale pastor accused last month of molesting three girls was identified as the man who committed suicide on the Golden State Freeway in Arleta by walking in front of a tractor-trailer, authorities said today.

Walter Heroldo Solis, 54, of Arleta, pastor of Glendale Spanish Seventh-day Adventist Church until his arrest last month, was killed Tuesday on the freeway just south of the Terra Bella Street exit, authorities said.

Los Angeles police investigators said the death was a suicide although it appeared that Solis may have tried to make it look like an accident.

Solis pulled his car onto the shoulder of the southbound side of the freeway, got out and raised the hood, indicating that he had an engine problem, investigators said. A short time later, as a tractor-trailer was approaching, Solis walked out from the front of his car and was struck by the truck, then hit by another car. Neither of the drivers was injured or cited.

Investigators found no suicide message in Solis’ car or home, but Los Angeles police Detective Al Ferrand said Solis had been emotionally upset since being charged with molestation and suspended by his church.

Solis had been facing trial on six charges of felony child molestation of three sisters, ages 7, 11 and 14 at his church office on East Broadway. The girls were members of his congregation. Solis was arrested after Glendale police began an investigation when a doctor contacted authorities to say he discovered during a checkup that one of the girls had been molested.