Los Angeles police arrested a man who saw him on a ring doorbell camera stalking the halls of an apartment building in the San Fernando Valley, then broke into one of the units and killed an internal resident.
Law enforcement says 27-year-old Eric Escamilla was taken into custody at West Hills Hospital, but is the pinnacle of the local manhunt after being murdered at Valley Village later last month. The murders scared residents and raised doubts about the length of time it took police to discover the victim’s body. The body was found three days after a neighbor reported a scream and a fight within the unit.
LAPD investigators have finally caught up with Escamilla after tracking down his whereabouts and missed him narrowly at least once last week. He was arrested Thursday evening on suspicion of murder.
Menashe Hydra’s body was found on April 26th inside an apartment in the valley village on the fifth floor after the attackers infiltrated nearby troops and attacked him from the balcony, investigators said.
Three days ago, the neighbor called 911 and reported that he had heard screams and the struggle from the apartment. The officer answered those calls, knocked on the door, and left without finding anything.
Hydra’s body was found inside his top floor unit at the Ashton Sherman Village Complex by an officer performing welfare checks after a friend became worried. Hydra was declared dead at the scene.
Prior to the latest allegations, Escamilla was facing misdemeanor charges, including trespassing, in a February incident in the San Fernando Valley. San Fernando police previously arrested him in December.
LAPD officials said social media rumors about serial killers in the area were incorrect and at this point Hydra’s death was not linked to other killings.
LAPD has launched an internal investigation into the officer’s response to the killing and another killing in Woodland Hills. In either case, officers did not find a victim because they were not inside.
LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell worked on two cases on Tuesday during a meeting of the Department’s Oversight Committee, the city’s private police commission. McDonnell admitted that officers would not enter either house immediately and said they had launched an administrative investigation in relation to their responses.
The same day Hydra’s body was found, the body of Alexandre Maud Baze, who had been beaten and died in a home on the forest hill. In that case, a woman inside the house called 911 and reported the assault, but the officer who arrived knocked and left. Only when they returned later they found the fatally wounded ModeBadze.
The suspect in Woodland Hills murder was arrested.
The walls between Menashehydra’s apartment in Valley Village and the vacant neighbourhoods were stained with blood.
(Richard Winton/Los Angeles Times)
A recording of the police dispatch call until 4am on April 23rd will hear dispatchers reporting calls to field officials. [assault with a deadly weapon] Ongoing… Callers hear two men fight, wrestling, slap and scream. “Several law enforcement agencies say officers responded to the scene but never entered the apartment.
The day before Hydra’s body was discovered, LAPD officials investigated the robbery in an empty apartment next door. According to two sources not authorized to discuss the investigation, officers found crushed skylights and dried blood.
Investigators suspect that the murderer had passed through the skylight and entered Hydra’s vacant apartment next door. We then moved to him from the unit’s balcony.
Blood was left in the door handle of the stairs at Valley Village Arpumment Complex, where Menashe Hidra was killed.
(Richard Winton/Los Angeles Times)
When a reporter visited with residents last week, bloody bills and marks were visible on the wall between Hydra’s balcony and the vacant apartment. Also, blood was visible on the door handle at the exit of the stairs when police released video.
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