Neighborhood pitches in for stabbing victim’s family

COSTA MESA — Neighbors and former co-workers have rallied to help the family of an Eastside man who was stabbed to death on Tuesday, even as a woman who lives next door claimed that he was hardly a helpless victim.

Daniel Martinez Rios, 33, was slain Tuesday around 9 p.m. in what police described as a fight that broke out after a minor traffic collision. A neighbor’s fiance, 28-year-old Evelio Aguilar Gomez, is suspected in the killing and had not been found as of Friday afternoon, police said.

Rios’ death, the latest in an unusually violent year in Costa Mesa, rocked the quiet neighborhood east of the Costa Mesa Freeway (55). In the days following, the victim’s extended family gathered at the apartment complex while nearby residents brought food, diapers and other necessities.

Crow’s Nest Yacht Sales, the Newport Beach company that Rios was laid off from several weeks ago because his position was cut, is raising money to pay for his burial service. “He was wonderful,” said Andrea Wood, the service coordinator for Crow’s Nest. “He had a great heart, a great personality, a great work ethic. A gentleman. Kind-hearted. All of the above.”

At least one person in the apartment complex on Santa Ana Avenue has a different recollection of Rios. Teresa Carreno, his neighbor and the suspect’s fiancee, told police that Rios had a history of abusive behavior toward her and had threatened her on Tuesday night after her car struck his.

Carreno, who has lived in the complex for six years, said she parked behind Rios on Tuesday and inadvertently rear-ended his car when she took her foot off the brake. Afterward, she said, a drunken Rios became furious and began cursing at her.

First, Carreno said, she called the police, but her connection went dead. She then called her fiance and asked him to deal with Rios. Before Gomez arrived, Carreno said, she went trick-or-treating with her daughter, only to return to find Rios lying wounded on the sidewalk.

Sgt. Bob Phillips of the Costa Mesa Police Department said Carreno had told her account to detectives working on the case, and that the matter is under investigation. Other witnesses, he said, had given contrary reports and said Rios was sober and had not threatened his neighbor.

“We have a team of detectives working day and night trying to solve this case,” Phillips said.

Celso Martinez Rios, the victim’s brother, denied Carreno’s story, saying that although Rios had a tough side, he was never one to terrorize others.

“Anybody will get mad when somebody hits your property,” he said. “Maybe my brother got mad, but not [threatening] to hurt her.”

In the meantime, other neighbors — including strangers — have stepped up to aid the Rios family. Linda Creciat, who lives three doors down, walked door-to-door Wednesday night to collect donations. Several of the homeowners associations, she said, agreed to chip in.

“Her needs are going to be down the road,” Creciat said of Rios’ widow. “She’s got family and friends here now, but her real needs are going to be in the future when there’s no support.”