An Apple Valley man has been arrested for the horrifying 2022 murder of a 16-year-old boy, officials announced Tuesday.
“After a tireless investigation, the murder detective identified Antonio Rodriguez as responsible for the murder of Robert Schmidt Jr.,” the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office said at its release.
The 26-year-old was booked for murder at High Dessert Detention Center on Monday, according to the department.
It was not immediately revealed whether Rodriguez knew Schmidt, but nearly three years after the teen was found stabbed to death in a dirt field, he began to face murder charges.
On October 18, 2022, Schmidt’s brutal body was found near a skate park in the 13,500 block of Navajo Road.
The boy’s mother, Elizabeth Schmidt, spoke with KTLA’s Shelby Nelson a few months after the murder.
A Vigil was held for 16-year-old Robert Schmidt Jr., found dead near Apply Valley Skate Park on October 18, 2022. October 18, 2022 (Raudrab) It was held for 16-year-old Robert Schmidt Jr., who died on October 18, 2022 near Application Valley Skate Park. He was found dead on October 18, 2022 near Apply Valley Skate Park. (LoudLabs) It was held for 16-year-old Robert Schmidt Jr., who died on October 18, 2022 near Apply Valley Skate Park.
She said she worked on the cemetery shift the night before on October 17th, and it wasn’t until the next morning that she learned that the oldest son of her four children had never returned home.
Elizabeth dropped Schmidt and his best friend, Dre, into the skate park that night. According to Dore, he left Schmidt that night with a friend of General Dollar on Navajo Road near Skate Park.
Elizabeth said she later went to find her son and submitted a police report.
“As we were driving, we were watching the fire department stand up on scene and tape it up,” the grieving mother said. “At that moment I knew it was my son. I started putting it all together.”
Investigators looked into surveillance video and said at the time he believed there would be some sort of struggle or altercation between 9pm and 10pm at the moment Schmidt was murdered.
Elizabeth said the maintenance worker at a nearby daycare center was the one who found her dead son the next day.
“He was everything I did. He was my only boy. He was amazing,” she said. “He was a kid who was always looking for someone else. We want an answer. We hope that someday someone will come forward.”
Details regarding the 26-year-old’s arrest remain limited, but authorities said as of Tuesday that Rodriguez was in custody without bail.
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