Police investigate killing

Lauren Vane

Police are looking for a man wanted for questioning in the brutal

slaying of an unidentified man whose body was discovered Monday

morning underneath an overpass along the Santa Ana river at Hamilton

Avenue and Brookhurst Street.

A pedestrian found the man, who police say was beaten to death

late Sunday night, said Jim Amormino, spokesman for the Orange County

Sheriff’s Department.

Investigators have spoken with a witness to the beating, Amormino

said.

Police are looking for Gilbert Garcia Jr., a transient police say

is known to frequent Huntington Beach and Costa Mesa.

“He has an extensive police record involving crimes of violence,

narcotics and theft,” Amormino said.

Garcia is a 5-foot-11, 210-pound Latino man with brown hair and

brown eyes, Police said, and was last seen on Monday, wearing blue

jeans, a blue jean jacket and a light blue cap.

“We do believe he’s still in Huntington Beach or Costa Mesa,”

Amormino said.

Police have not been able to identify the victim, because he was

so severely beaten, Amormino said, but they know he was white and in

his mid-40s. They believe he may have been homeless. Although police

have not been able to identify the man, area locals said they may

know the man who died and possibly his killer.

Michael Siringo, of Huntington Beach, who works at the rePlanet

recycling center across the street from where the body was found,

said he knows some of the homeless who live in the areas around the

river.

Siringo first heard about the killing Monday afternoon from one of

the homeless people who frequents the recycling center, he said.

Siringo fears he knows the man who was killed and said that he is

not one of the usual crowd.

“I just met the guy who got killed, yesterday for the first time,”

Siringo said, describing him as a short, white man in his 40s.

Siringo was under the bridge Saturday night, drinking alcohol with

several locals when he witnessed a fight between two men, he said.

Siringo left the bridge area around 7:30 or 8 p.m. that night, he

said.

“I didn’t see anyone killed, that’s for sure,” he said.

Edward Howe, who lives nearby in Costa Mesa and talks often with

area homeless, said the area under the bridge is a haven during

rainstorms.

“They compete for this cavern when it gets cold,” Howe said. “Some

of these guys get pretty violent. So I can almost guarantee two guys

got into it over this cavern.”

The homeless go underneath the bridge to do drugs and drink

alcohol, Howe said, and he isn’t surprised that something violent

could occur.

“It’s so rocky to get up in there,” he said. “It’d be easy to bang

someone’s head against the rocks.”

Ray, a transient who did not want to give his last name, said the

homeless who camp there call themselves the River Rack Club.

“We all know each other and we look out for each other,” he said.

Garcia should be considered dangerous and anyone with information

about Garcia or the case should contact the Orange County Sheriff’s

Department at (714) 628-7170 or Homicide at (714) 647-7087.

* LAUREN VANE covers education and crime. She can be reached at

(714) 966-4610 or lauren.vane@latimes.com.