| For Immediate Release Case # TBA
January 17, 2012 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
OCDA FILES MULTIPLE MURDER CHARGES AGAINST FORMER MARINE FOR SERIAL THRILL-KILL SPREE OF FOUR HOMELESS MEN IN ONE MONTH
*Defendant was apprehended after mass multi-agency manhunt
SANTA ANA – The Orange County District Attorney’s (OCDA) Office has filed charges against a former Marine for murdering four homeless men in a serial thrill-kill spree. Itzcoatl Ocampo, 23, Yorba Linda, is charged with four felony counts of murder with special circumstances for multiple murders and lying in wait and sentencing enhancements for personal use of a deadly weapon, a knife, during commission of a crime. If convicted, he faces a minimum sentence of life in state prison without the possibility of parole. The special circumstances in this case make Ocampo eligible for the death penalty, and the District Attorney will make this determination at a later date as is customary. Ocampo is being held without bail and is expected to be arraigned tomorrow, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012, at 9:00 a.m. in Department CJ-1, Central Jail, Santa Ana.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD), and the Anaheim (APD), Brea (BPD), and Placentia (PPD) Police Departments.
Members of these agencies have interviewed more than 200 witnesses both before and after the arrest. OCSD Crime Lab made this case a top priority and analyzed the key physical evidence in this case. The FBI provided specialized information and expertise.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Susan Price of the Homicide Unit is prosecuting this case on behalf of the OCDA.
Defendant Ocampo
Ocampo was in the United States Marines until he was discharged in June 2010.
For each of the four murders (described below), Ocampo is accused of planning the murders in advance and pre-selecting and stalking his victims. He is accused of being intelligent and calculating in carrying out these vicious, executions with no plans of stopping. He is accused of preying on homeless men because of their vulnerability. All four of the murders occurred in North Orange County.
Ocampo is accused of using the same Ka-bar Bull Dozer knife in all four murders.