Santa Ana police today sought the ex-boyfriend of a 21-year-old woman found fatally stabbed in a Santa Ana alley.
(Flickr)
Police identified Luis Antonio Garcia Morales, 24, of Santa Ana, as a ”person of interest” and said he was wanted for questioning in the stabbing death of Maria Isabel Cerrillo, whose body was found in an alley in the 200 block of North Laurel Street about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said.
“The victim and this individual had a relationship in the past, and it’s our belief that he’s been contacting her in an attempt to rekindle the relationship, which she had no interest in doing,” Bertagna said.
Investigators suspect Morales may have lured her into the neighborhood and attacked her, Bertagna said. “But at this time he’s only a person of interest,” he said. “According to family and coworkers he said he was having family issues and was moving to Mexico,” Bertagna said.
Morales was described as about 5 feet 8 inches and 180 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes.
Cerrillo was stabbed multiple times in the abdomen, Bertagna said. She had been living in Tustin but recently moved in with her parents and was working on earning a graduate equivalency degree. She had no criminal history and no gang ties, Bertagna said.
Investigators were trying to figure out why Cerrillo would go about 10 miles away from her house at night, Bertagna said. “She had no family, no business over there, so what drew her over there is what detectives were trying to figure out,” Bertagna said.
Cerrillo’s car was found in the alley where it dead ends just north of First Street, about 300 yards from where her body was found, Bertagna said. “So why did she park her car there? What drew her to the alley? That’s what detectives were trying to piece together,” Bertagna said.
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