Man Pleads Not Guilty To Murder In Fallbrook Nursery Stabbing

VISTA, CA — A man accused of fatally stabbing another man at a Fallbrook plant nursery last weekend pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a murder charge.

Luis Enrique Muniz, 57, is accused of killing 33-year-old Escondido resident Ismael Alberto Resendiz on Saturday.

Deputies and fire personnel responded at about 8 p.m. to a nursery in the 5400 block of Rainbow Creek Road and found Resendiz with a stab wound to the chest, according to Lt. Thomas Seiver of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department. He was taken to a hospital and died shortly after arrival, Seiver said.

Muniz, who lives at the nursery, was identified as a suspect in the stabbing and arrested, the lieutenant said.

Police did not release a suspected motive for the killing, nor the relationship, if any, between the suspect and victim.

In addition to murder, Muniz is charged with allegations of using a knife in the killing and faces up to 26 years to life in prison if convicted of all counts.

He remains held without bail.

— City News Service