Inmate found dead at Delano prison shared cell with notorious serial killer
A North Kern State Prison inmate died in his cell Friday, according to a news release from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Juan Villanueva was found unresponsive in his cell — that he shared with serial killer Ramon Escobar — by an officer searching cells to secure them and to check on inmates around 8:49 a.m. Staff began attempting to save Villanueva, but he was pronounced dead at 9:03 a.m., the news release said.
Villanueva, 53, was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole in prison from Los Angeles County for aggravated sexual assault of a child under 14 years old. He was sentenced in October, according to CDCR.
Escobar, 51, was sentenced to life in prison without parole for five counts of first-degree murder and seven counts of attempted second-degree murder.
In 2018, Escobar brutally murdered victims with bolt cutters or a baseball bat while they slept on the beach or streets. Every victim, besides one, was homeless.
The murderer was also sentenced for killing his aunt and uncle in Houston, Texas, in 2018 and arrived in Los Angeles that same week before his additional killing spree began. Escobar told police he killed his uncle because he felt disrespected. Their bodies were later found in a landfill.
Police learned through questioning Escobar that he killed some L.A. victims because they irritated him, they were disrespectful to law enforcement or he robbed them because he needed money.
Originally hailing from El Salvador, Escobar had been deported six times from 1997 to 2011 but returned unlawfully, authorities said. He was released in 2017 from immigration custody after winning an appeal in his latest deportation case in immigration court.