Manhunt Ends: Suspect Arrested In 3 Cemetery Slayings

PERRIS, CA — A suspect in a triple slaying that occurred earlier this month in a Perris cemetery, Jose Luis Torres Garcia, 33, was arrested Thursday during a traffic stop in Cheyenne, Wyoming, according to authorities.

When stopped, Garcia, a twice-deported Mexican national, was driving the silver 2007 GMC Yukon SUV described in the wanted posters distributed by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. He is now awaiting extradition back to Riverside County, according to the department.

The three killings took place sometime on the night of Feb. 16 or in predawn hours on Feb. 17 at the Perris Valley Cemetery, deputies said.

The victims were identified as Perris residents Jaime Covarrubias Espindola, 50, Jose Maria Aguilar-Espejel, 38, and Rodrigo Aguilar-Esepjel, 28.

Deputies were called the morning of Feb. 17 to the cemetery, on the 900 block of North Perris Boulevard, where they found the three men on the ground, injured and unresponsive. Officials did not disclose the nature of their injuries.

Garcia, who has at least three aliases and two unrelated misdemeanor warrants in Riverside and San Mateo counties, was identified by investigators as the suspect in the case, and the department asked anyone with information on his whereabouts to contact officials.

Last week, Sheriff Chad Bianco said detectives identified Garcia as the alleged perpetrator after amassing and screening citywide security video surveillance images and speaking with potential witnesses.

The sheriff would not elaborate on a possible motive, including whether the slayings were tied to cartel violence south of the border, saying only that Garcia was with the three victims all night leading up to the killings.

"The suspect and victims knew each other," Bianco said. "This was not a random killing. There was a reason for the four of them to be together."

The victims' bodies were left adjacent to a grave. "Three people killed at the same time -- that was a message for something, whether it was for someone else, or for them," Bianco said. "It certainly is not the norm."

The sheriff acknowledged hearing of speculation that the men's deaths may have been tied to the killing of a 36-year-old restaurateur who was abducted and fatally shot on a roadside in Mexico in December. The victim's grave possibly was the one at which the men's bodies were laid.

Bianco said other recent homicides in Perris were not connected to the latest killings, despite social media gossip.

When pulled over in Wyoming, Garcia, the SUV's sole occupant, had 15 pounds of marijuana in the vehicle, deputies said.

Sheriff's officials said that law enforcement officers in Cheyenne spotted the fugitive, pulled him over and detained him without incident. After confirming Garcia's identity, police took him into custody and jailed him at the Laramie County Detention Center.

Anyone with information on the case can contact Investigator Louriero of the Central Homicide Unit at (760)393-3524 or (951) 955-2777.

• PREVIOUS COVERAGE: 3 Cemetery Killings In Perris: New Details, Manhunt Continues
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--City News Service contributed to this report