Father and son arrested in 3 cold case killings

LOS ANGELES >> Authorities have arrested a man and his son in connection with three slayings in Southern California from 2014 to 2018, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said Thursday.

Investigators have not said what the duo’s motives were but believe they had unspecified relationships with the victims — Jesse Avalos, 34; Eduardo Robles, 38; and Amanda “Nikki” Lopez, 27 — who were killed within 2.2 miles of one another in East Los Angeles.

An $80,000 reward was offered last month, though it was not immediately clear whether anyone has collected it.

Detectives say the same handgun was used in the killings of Avalos in 2014 and Robles in 2015. Witnesses in all three slayings described a similar suspect and his older getaway driver.

Anthony Velasquez, 31, and his father, 51-year-old Manuel Velasquez, were arrested early Thursday morning in East Los Angeles. It was not immediately clear if they had attorneys who could speak on their behalf.

In 2014, Avalos got a phone call from an acquaintance seeking help to jumpstart his car, the Sheriff’s Department said. He helped the person and hours later was found shot in the driver’s seat of his SUV. The vehicle’s hood was open, and two suspects were seen near the SUV.

The next year, Robles was involved in a fight while visiting a home in East L.A. Afterward, Anthony Velasquez jumped over a fence to the street to puncture the tires of Robles’ vehicle and run away, authorities said. Five minutes later, he returned and shot Robles several times, authorities said. Manuel Velasquez is accused of picking up his son and driving away.

On April 22, 2018, Anthony Velasquez shot Lopez while she slept inside a tent in a homeless encampment in front of a local elected official’s field office, authorities said.

Deputy Grace Medrano said Thursday that homicide investigators have not labeled the Velasquezes as serial killers but may do so in the future.