LONG BEACH (KRON/CNN) — A person of interest is now in police custody in connection to the beating death of a woman in Long Beach.
Witnesses say the man used an electric scooter as a weapon.
Heartbroken friends and family members say 63-year-old Rosa Manjarrez had spent the morning visiting with friends just a few blocks from her Long Beach home.
“She went to eat over there because they enjoy all the time, you know, they made food and they enjoy,” said Gabriel Luquin, a friend of Manjarrez.
After lunch, friends say she started making the three-block walk home when a man began attacking her just a few steps from her friend’s home.
Police say the suspect then picked up a scooter that had been lying on the sidewalk and beat her to death.
Friends say they know her attacker as someone who always hangs around the neighborhood and seems mentally unstable.
“We saw him all the time around there. So my wife, she warned me about the guy few times and I was … okay, just try to avoid him,” said Luquin.
Police say they took a person of interest into custody from a Circle K about a half mile from the murder scene within a few hours of the deadly attack.
Meantime, the tragic news of Manjarrez’s passing swept through this neighborhood.
“I just heard the news so it’s shocking. She was a nice woman. Everybody in the neighborhood knew her. She’s always walking and she does. She didn’t drive,” said neighbor Veronica Morales.
Neighbors say she loved gardening, her husband, and her extended family, and was like family to many others in the neighborhood.
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — Nearly a year before “Full House” actress Lori Loughlin was named in a list of dozens of people charged in a nationwide college admissions bribery scandal, her daughter, YouTuber Olivia Jade Giannulli, publicly apologized after allegedly making controversial comments regarding her college education.
In a video from August 2018, Loughlin’s 19-year-old daughter, who now attends USC, allegedly made the comments on her YouTube channel.
“I don’t know how much of school I’m gonna attend,” she told her millions of subscribers. “But I’m gonna go in and talk to my deans and everyone, and hope that I can try and balance it all. But I do want the experience of like game days, partying… I don’t really care about school, as you guys all know.”
Two days later, she released an apology video in which she addressed concerns from her subscribers.
“I said something super ignorant and stupid, basically,” she said. “And it totally came across that I’m ungrateful for college — I’m going to a really nice school. And it just kind of made it seem like I don’t care, I just want to brush it off. I’m just gonna be successful at YouTube and not have to worry about school. I’m really disappointed in myself.”
“A lot of people like to attack me for the way I’ve grown up because it’s really different from a lot of people,” she added, insisting she regretted offending her fans.
But more recently, she sat down on the “Zach Sang Show” podcast to discuss her college life and why she even decided to attend.
Here’s how she responded when asked why attend college at all:
“Mostly because my parents really wanted me to go,” adding that both her mom and dad did not go to college and “were doing just fine.”
She later tweeted that YouTube is her passion and she would rather be vlogging than “sitting in 6 hours of classes straight.”
The FBI served a warrant for Loughlin — who is married to Mossimo Giannulli — but she was not home at the time.
Loughlin has been charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud in indictments unsealed Tuesday in federal court in Boston.
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — California could become the first state in the nation to offer parents 6 months of paid leave.
New legislation has been introduced at the State Capitol.
Research shows that longer paid maternity leave can increase the rate of mothers who attempt breastfeeding by as much as 18 percent.
Governor Gavin Newsom says that’s one of the many benefits in the plan.
Lawmakers still do not know how the state will pay to keep parents home longer with their baby.
The bill, sponsored by the California Lawyers Association, will also offer parents job protection.
Supporters argue workers are already paying for that.
“Right now, employees pay into the paid family leave program with their own paychecks. There’s a great possibility that the funding is already there it just needs to be reworked in order to fund this bill.”
The California Small Business Chamber has declined to take a position in the proposal until more funding details emerge.
(CNN/KRON) — A 16-year-old girl in Sacramento is back home safe with her family after an unlikely hero saved her from sex trafficking.
“I was kidnaped, and held captive, and abused and stuff,” Crystal Allen said.
16-year-old Crystal says she might not be standing here today if it weren’t for the heroics of postal carrier Ivan Crisostomo.
“It was kinda like an adrenaline rush cause I felt like I was being saved,“ she said.
Crystal’s mother Stacey says her daughter was lured to Sacramento by someone she thought was friend, then found herself trapped in a world of drugs and sex trafficking.
It was in the Oak Park neighborhood that Crystal says she saw her one opportunity to escape. She says she was in the car of her captors, when she heard them discussing a crime.
In a brave move, she jumped out of the car, grabbed one of their phones and ran for her life.
“I heard this crying when I came out of the vehicle, so I approached her and I asked her. She was afraid, she didn’t want to talk,” Crisostomo said.
With Ivan’s help Crystal was able to call her mom, even though she was terrified her captors would find her.
“Terror. She was frantic,” her mother Stacy Ohman said.
“I didn’t know what was going on. I couldn’t even understand her she was so upset and that’s when I told her she had to reach out to someone for safety and she gave the phone to Ivan and he instantly kicked into gear and told me that he would save my daughter,” she said.
Ivan stayed with Crystal, even letting her sit in his postal truck until Sheriff’s Deputies arrived .
“That neighborhood she was found in is a notoriously high crime area. Lots of drugs, prostitution, gangs in that area. So Ivan standing by her really provided that safety and security until officers could arrive,” Deputy Latoya Buford of Sacramento Co Sheriff’s Dept. said.
“What Ivan did was wonderful. He stepped up where a lot of people would have just kept driving down the road. He made a huge positive impact in this young girl’s life,” Deputy David Cuneo said.
Ivan is just happy he was there to help.
“The way I see her, she has a wonderful future ahead,” he said. “She’s doing so well. I’m happy. I’m really happy.”
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A 10-year-old Southern California boy was starved and tortured for days before his death, sometimes by younger brothers and sisters forced to take part in the beatings, according to prosecutors who have charged his mother and her boyfriend with his murder.
KNBC-TV on Tuesday cited court documents that alleged vicious and repeated abuse of Anthony Avalos at his Lancaster home in the Mojave Desert north of Los Angeles for five or six days before his death June 21.
The torture included slamming the boy onto the bedroom floor, whipping him with a belt and cord, pouring hot sauce into his mouth and forbidding him to use the bathroom, according to the documents.
Eight siblings witnessed and were forced to take part in some of the abuse, which according to the documents included making the other children fight Anthony and forcing the children keep watch “so Anthony would remain standing or kneeling.”
“At one point Anthony could not walk, was unconscious lying on his bedroom floor for hours, was not provided medical attention, and could not eat on his own,” Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami wrote in an motion filed Monday that asks a court to admit previous child abuse reports into evidence.
Sheriff’s deputies were called to Anthony’s home a day before he died at a hospital. His mother said the boy had fallen down stairs.
Heather Maxine Barron, 28, and her boyfriend, Kareem Ernesto Leiva, 32, were charged with torture and murder. They haven’t entered pleas and remained jailed on $2 million bail each pending a hearing next month.
Hatami’s motion said that when the boy was brought to a hospital, his heart had stopped and he had suffered a traumatic brain injury and a brain bleed.
Anthony also had reddened eyes and numerous bruises, cuts and scrapes on his forehead, nose, mouth, cheek, neck, legs, shoulder, hips, back, buttocks, stomach, ankle, legs and foot.
County child welfare officials had received a dozen referrals of suspected child abuse about the boy from 2013 until 2016. Anthony had been removed from his home for several months when some of the reports of abuse were substantiated. He was returned after family members received in-home counseling, welfare officials said.
After Anthony’s death, authorities removed the eight other children — aged between 11 months and 12 years old — from the home. They are being cared for by county child welfare workers, officials said.
If convicted, Anthony’s mother could face up to 22 years to life in state prison. Her boyfriend could be sentenced to 32 years to life in prison.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KRON) — The man accused of being the Golden State Killer and East Area rapist is making a surprise court appearance Thursday morning.
The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office initially said Joseph James DeAngelo would be back in court Wednesday at 8:30 a.m.
However, the date was pushed back to the next morning.
The hearing is in regards to a motion filed by the defense related to a sealed warrant.
Due to the fact that the warrant is sealed, further details are not available at this time.
DeAngelo is due back in court May 14 for further court proceeding.
The Golden State Killer is connected to 12 murders and about 50 rapes in California dating back to the 70′ and 80’s.