Riverside County California Sheriff: 3 men were slain at Perris cemetery; possible cartel connection investigated

Chivis Martinez   Borderland Beat   TY GUS  Source

The three men found dead in a Perris cemetery Monday morning were killed near the grave of a man who was slain in Mexico, and investigators are trying to determine whether there is a connection, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said at a Tuesday afternoon news conference.

Detectives were looking into whether the location of the homicides was meant to send a message and whether a cartel or a gang was involved.

“Three people killed at the same time, that was a message for something, whether it was for someone else or whether it was to them, three people being killed in a cemetery is not the norm,” Bianco said.

Reports out of Mexico say the man was slain in December. A grave marker with that man’s name at Perris Valley Cemetery says he died in December. His gravesite was elaborately decorated Tuesday with a crucifix, hearts, flowers, balloons and solar lights. Bianco would not confirm whether the man named on the grave is the person killed in Mexico. Detectives from Riverside County have been in contact with Mexican authorities, the sheriff said.

The men’s bodies were all found in the grass at the cemetery at 915 N. Perris Blvd. Bianco declined to say how investigators believe the three were killed. The Riverside County Coroner’s Office identified them Tuesday as Perris residents Jaime Covarrubias Espindola, 50, Jose Maria Aguilar-Espejel, 38, and Rodrigo Aguilar-Espejel, 28. Their relationship with each other or the man killed in Mexico was unclear Tuesday.

While they were found Monday, it’s not clear when the men were killed.

Bianco said detectives were looking at security-camera footage from the cemetery as well as from cameras placed around the city to try and pinpoint how the men got to the cemetery.

The sheriff said among the leads that investigators were looking at was the positioning of the bodies near the grave.

While they have not yet officially determined a motive for the killings, Bianco agreed the men appear to have been victims of an execution or assassination.

The killings of the three men come after a pair of deadly incidents in Perris or nearby in just the past few days, and other violence earlier in the month. Bianco said the killings were not related and that he wanted to assure the public there was no threat to their safety.

“We do not have a serial killer on the loose,” he said.

A Perris man was found dead in Good Hope, just outside of Perris on Sunday afternoon when deputies responded to a shooting. Another victim survived that shooting. Renato Ivan Sanchez, 38, was arrested on Saturday on suspicion of shooting and killing a 25-year-old Perris man at Paragon Park in the city on Wednesday. Three men were wounded by gunfire in Perris near the 1500 block of Ashbury Way on Feb. 11. Earlier, a Temecula man was shot to death outside a Perris gas station on Feb. 2. Monday, two juveniles were injured in an assault in Perris.

Several Perris residents who said they were concerned about the violence attended the news conference. The Perris City Council has tentatively scheduled a special meeting about public safety for Feb. 27, said Mayor Michael Vargas, who also expressed confidence in the Sheriff’s Department. Council members might discuss paying for additional deputies under the city’s contract with Riverside County, Vargas said Tuesday.