O.C. serial killer in custody, police say

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Orange County authorities announced Saturday that they believe the man arrested Friday night on suspicion of killing a homeless man is a serial killer who stabbed three other transients in North Orange County over the last few weeks.
"We are extremely confident that we have the man who is responsible for the murders of all four homeless men in Orange County," Anaheim Police Chief John Welter said.
Police identified the man as Itzcoatl Ocampo, 23, of Yorba Linda.
Ocampo was being held at the Anaheim jail without bail after a homeless man, whom people who live in the area identified only as John, was stabbed to death behind a busy fast-food restaurant late Friday.

Police have been looking for one man believed to be a serial killer and have conducted roadblocks in Placentia and in Yorba Linda.
Detectives released grainy footage from a security camera showing a man dressed in black and "lying in wait" at the time of the first attack, which occurred Dec. 20.

That image became the primary lead in the investigation. Detectives were also searching for a white, four-door late-model Toyota Corolla.

The first attack claimed the life of James Patrick McGillivray, 53. On Dec. 28, Lloyd Middaugh, 42, was found dead near a riverbed trail in Anaheim. Two days later, Paulus Smit, 57, was killed outside the Yorba Linda city library.

Police have been urging homeless people to seek shelter and have gone into homeless encampments throughout Orange County warning those living there that a killer was on the loose.
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Itzcoatl Ocampo, the suspect in the slayings of four homeless men in Orange County, is a former Marine who had been increasingly troubled since he returned from Iraq in 2010, friends and family said.
"When he came back from Iraq, he was sick," said his uncle, Ifrain Gonzalez.
For the last year, he had been telling relatives that he was seeing and hearing things, Gonzalez said.
PHOTOS: Serial killer targets O.C. homeless
The last time Gonzalez saw his nephew was at a Christmas Eve party. Ocampo, he said, had told a cousin, "I did something terrible, but don't worry."
The killings had begun four days earlier.
Brian Doyle, a friend from high school, said Ocampo told him he had been kicked out of the military. A Marine Corps representative could not be reached Saturday for confirmation, and Anaheim police declined to discuss Ocampo's military service.
Since Ocampo's return, he had socialized with Doyle from time to time, drinking beer, smoking cigars and talking, Doyle said.
Ocampa was arrested Friday evening after bystanders chased him down about a quarter-mile from the shopping center where police found the body of John Berry, 64, near a trash bin behind a Carl's Jr. restaurant. Police allege he is the serial killer who also fatally stabbed three other homeless men in Orange County over the last few weeks.
"We are extremely confident that we have the man who is responsible for the murders of all four homeless men in Orange County," Anaheim Police Chief John Welter said at a news conference Saturday. Police said they would seek four counts of murder this week.
Authorities did not specify a motive for the killings, which began on Dec. 20 and sent fear through the homeless community.
When he returned to the U.S. from Iraq, Ocampo moved into a rented bedroom that he shared with his mother and a younger sister and brother in Yorba Linda. His main activity was playing video games, Gonzalez said. Things got worse when he learned a good friend had been killed in Afghanistan.
Gonzalez said appointments to get his nephew psychological help had been made and canceled several times.
Ocampo donated money to help make a documentary about wounded Marines, according to a website for the unfinished film, titled "Still in the Fight."