Arrest In Murder Of 73-Year-Old Riverside Man
RIVERSIDE (CBSLA) — An 18-year-old Riverside man was behind bars Sunday night, charged with murder and elder abuse.
As CBSLA's Cristy Fajardo reports, the 18-year-old was being held without bail after police say his family's elderly tenant died of suspicious injuries.
Police say the murder happened in a converted garage behind a home in Riverside. The victim was a 73-year-old man.
Juan Carlos Barraza was arrested. He lives in the front house.
Detectives say the elderly man's caretaker went to check on him on the 3300 block of Lime Street, but the door was locked.
She then saw Barraza leaving the converted garage and found the elderly man inside bleeding. Paramedics couldn't save him.
When officers arrived just after midnight on Saturday they say the injuries looked suspicious so they called in detectives.
Neighbor Christine Tamara saw the aftermath.
"I'm in my car on the other side and they start taping the car all around and the cops were going up and down, up and down," said Tamara.
Police say what they found was enough to book Barraza on murder and elder abuse.
His grandmother says he was trying to save an elderly tenant who she says had been ill. She insists the man died of natural causes. But police believe it was his injuries that killed him.
Neighbors say the elderly man had lived in the converted garage for a couple of months.
