Man arrested in 14-year-old murder case

Jose Paul Corona

Huntington Beach police have arrested a man in connection with the

murder of Luis Rios who was shot in his Huntington Beach apartment 14

years ago.

On May 21, Huntington Beach police detectives arrested Carlos Ortega

at his home in Virginia. Ortega is currently being held on a no-bail

warrant and is awaiting a hearing regarding his extradition to Orange

County. He is fighting extradition. Police allege that Ortega was one of

three men that broke into Rios’ apartment in the 7900 block of Moonshadow

Drive on January 28, 1988.

Three armed men forced their way into the apartment and were holding

three women at gunpoint. The men were ransacking the apartment when Rios

returned home. Rios was shot as he tried to escape, police said. The

three men fled the scene after the shooting.

Two of the three suspects were identified by fingerprints that were

left in the apartment.

One of the suspects, former Los Angeles resident Mario Duran was

arrested in December of 1992 on domestic violence charges in Arlington

County, Virginia.

Duran was extradited to Orange County and was convicted on murder

charges and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of

parole.

Last month FBI agents contacted Huntington Beach police detectives and

told them that they had matched a set of fingerprints of a man using the

name of Miguel Roque to Ortega. Ortega fled to Virginia, where he married

and had three children. He had been living in the city of Culpepper where

he was working as a laborer, said Huntington Beach Police Sgt. Gary Meza.

Huntington Beach Police Lt. Ron Burgess said that the murder case had

remained opened and unsolved, and that detectives had some information

regarding Ortega’s whereabouts.

“We had information that he was possibly in the state of Virginia, but

we didn’t know much more than that and he was [living] under an assumed

name,” Burgess added.

Huntington Beach Police Det. Steven Mack was one of two detectives

that flew to Virginia on May 20 to arrest Ortega. Upon his arrival in

Virginia Mack met with two detectives from the Virginia State Police

fugitive detail to discuss the case.

The following day Ortega was arrested as he arrived home from work. As

he pulled into his driveway police officers pulled in directly behind

him, Mack said.

“He showed initial shock when the cars pulled up,” Mack said.

But Ortega admitted that he knew why the officers were there and that

he would eventually be caught.

Ortega’s wife and children had no knowledge of his criminal past.

It was important for Huntington Beach detectives to be present during

Ortega’s arrest so that an interview could be conducted immediately, Mack

said, as they didn’t want Ortega to have time to get his 14-year-old

story together.

Ortega’s arrest was a strange twist of events for Mack who was one the

the first patrol officers on the scene when Luis Rios was murdered in

1988.

Ortega now awaits his extradition hearing. No hearing date as been set

as of yet, Sgt. Meza said.