Crime & Safety

Man Sentenced For Talmadge Alley Stabbing Death

Lee Willis Bender, 52, pleaded guilty to a voluntary manslaughter count in the Feb. 20, 2022, stabbing of 30-year-old Ramiro Arellano Jr.

SAN DIEGO, CA — A man who pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing another man last year in a Talmadge alley was sentenced Tuesday to 23 years in state prison.

Lee Willis Bender, 52, pleaded guilty to a voluntary manslaughter count in the Feb. 20, 2022, stabbing of 30-year-old Ramiro Arellano Jr.

Police found the victim sitting in his car shortly after 7 p.m. in an alley off Altadena Avenue.

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Arellano was hospitalized in critical condition and died of his injuries four days later, according to Lt. Jud Campbell of the San Diego Police Department.

The lieutenant said that according to investigators, the victim was quarreling with two people in the access road when one of them stabbed him and fled.

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Bender was arrested in El Cajon one day before Arellano died.

— City News Service