Long Beach Man Denies Killing Northridge Student in Bizarre Craigslist Murder

A Long Beach man pleaded not guilty Friday in connection with the death of a Cal State Northridge student from Saudi Arabia whose body was found last year in the Coachella Valley.

Agustin Rosendo Fernandez, 29, is charged with murder in last year’s killing of Abdullah Abdullatif Alkadi.

Alkadi, a 23-year-old engineering student, disappeared Sept. 17, 2014, from his home near the CSUN campus.

His body was found about a month later along Interstate 10 east of Cook Street in Palm Desert, about 40 miles east of the Beaumont location where Alkadi’s cell phone had last been used just before being deactivated.

Alkadi had listed an Audi A6 for sale on Craigslist at more than $30,000 and he disappeared while showing the car to a prospective buyer, Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck said last year.

“The investigation determined that Agustin Fernandez killed Mr. Alkadi in an attempt to keep both the Audi and the purchase price,” the police chief said then, cautioning the public to beware when using online sites to sell anything.

Police said Fernandez had Alkadi’s vehicle when he was arrested in October 2014 and that he made statements that led to Alkadi’s body.

The murder charge -- filed in October 2014 -- includes the special circumstance allegations of murder during a robbery and murder during a carjacking, along with an allegation that Fernandez personally used a knife during the crime.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office will decide later whether to seek the death penalty against Fernandez, who is jailed without bail.

Fernandez is due back in a San Fernando courtroom Feb. 4 for a pretrial hearing.

--City News Service, photo courtesy of the LAPD