HPD: Missing siblings case may be foul play
Suspect in 3 L.A. killings considered a person of interest
Foul play is now suspected in the disappearance of missing siblings Dina and Rogelio Escobar, whose nephew, Ramon Escobar, was arrested this week in the brutal slaying of three people in California, officials said Wednesday.
Kese Smith, a Houston police spokesman, said investigators late Wednesday changed the status of the missing persons case. He did not say if 47-year-old Escobar was a suspect in the case or what evidence led to the revelation. Escobar was not a suspect or a person of interest when he walked into Houston police headquarters Aug. 30 to speak to detectives about his aunt’s disappearance, Smith said earlier Wednesday. Escobar was named a person of interest in the case Tuesday.
The El Salvador national arrested Monday in the beating deaths of three men in the Los Angeles area was one of the last people to see his 60-year-old aunt alive. She vanished Aug. 28 while looking for her older brother, Rogelio Escobar, who vanished two days prior. Escobar lived with his aunt and uncle, according to police in California.
After last month’s interview, the nephew fled Houston for Los Angeles, where he allegedly started a deadly crime spree attacking and robbing homeless men.
“We had no probable cause to detain him during our interview with him,” Smith said, adding that Escobar did not have any outstanding warrants. “From the conclusion of the interview, he was not a suspect.”
Smith was unable to say how soon after the interview Escobar left the state.
Smith said investigators are negotiating with Los Angeles police to interview Escobar a second time, but a date has not been set.
Escobar faces three murder and four attempted murder charges. Two of the survivors remain in a coma, according to Santa Monica police officials.
Los Angeles police Capt. William Hayes said Wednesday that investigators linked an eighth victim to Escobar. The victim survived, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Since Escobar’s arrest, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has filed a detainer to deport him. His immigration history was brought up during a news conference Tuesday when Los Angeles police Capt. William Hayes said Escobar was a repeat deportee.
ICE spokeswoman Paige Hughes on Wednesday confirmed that Escobar was first deported from the country as a teenager in Feb. 1988. He has since been deported back to El Salvador an additional six times from 1997 and 2011.
Escobar and family members told Houston investigators he was in the U.S. on a work visa.