Texas police questioned man days before killings

LOS ANGELES — A man with a history of violence who had been deported from the United States six times wasn’t flagged for arrest by Houston police and fled to California, where he is now charged in a series of killings, authorities said.

Ramon Escobar, 47, came to the attention of Houston police when his aunt and uncle disappeared in August but he was released since no foul play was suspected, Houston police spokesman Kese Smith said Wednesday.

“We had no probable cause to arrest or book him,” Smith said.

However, Smith added that foul play was now suspected in the disappearances.

Escobar arrived this month in California, where authorities say he began a string of attacks that killed three men and seriously injured four, most of them homeless.

Investigators believe that Escobar bludgeoned the men with a wooden baseball bat or bolt cutters as they slept on the beach or on the streets of Los Angeles and Santa Monica in order to rob them.

Escobar was charged Wednesday in Los Angeles County with three counts of murder, five counts of attempted murder and four counts of seconddegree robbery in attacks involving homeless men. He was ordered held without bail pending a Nov. 8 arraignment.

It could not immediately be determined if he had an attorney.

The El Salvador native has a long criminal history, including six felony convictions for burglary and illegal re-entry, but U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement released him from custody after Escobar won an appeal in immigration court in 2016.

Immigration records are generally not public, so it remained a mystery how he won.

Andrew Arthur, a retired immigration judge, said the Board of Immigration Appeals may have allowed Escobar to stay in the country and be released under ICE supervision by granting him asylum or some other form of relief, like “withholding of removal” or protection under the U.N. Convention Against Torture.

“Even people with horrendous criminal records are able to access humanitarian relief to remain in the United States,” said Arthur, a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for restrictions on immigration.