Homeless Killer Suspect Accused of 2 More Murders

Itzcoatl Ocampo to be charged with stabbing Raquel Estrada, Juan Herrera
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 6, 2012 9:20 AM CST
Homeless Killer Suspect Accused of 2 More Murders
This file photo released on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012, provided by the Anaheim Police Dept. shows Itzcoatl Ocampo.   (AP Photo/Anaheim Police Dept.,File)

Authorities believe Itzcoatl Ocampo, the 23-year-old Iraq veteran charged with stabbing four homeless men to death in California, also killed two other people—ones that he knew. Ocampo will be charged today with the murders of Raquel Estrada, 53, and her 34-year-old son, Juan Herrera, the mother and brother of a friend Ocampo has known since high school. That friend, Eder Herrera, had originally been charged with the murders, but those charges were dropped Friday, CNN reports.

"This case has expanded from murdering random, vulnerable strangers to murdering people he knew," says the Orange County district attorney. Estrada and her son were also stabbed to death, Estrada more than 30 times and her son more than 60, on Oct. 25 inside their home. The similarity of the attacks to those on the homeless men led law enforcement to investigate a possible Ocampo connection. No possible motive has yet been disclosed. (More Itzcoatl Ocampo stories.)

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