LOS ANGELES (AP) – An Ethiopian immigrant has been charged with capital murder in the stabbing deaths of his father and sister, whose bodies were found near freeways in Fresno and Santa Barbara counties.
Mulushewa Tebedge was charged Monday with two counts of murder and a special circumstance allegation of multiple murders. A Los Angeles County District Attorney spokeswoman says prosecutors have not decided whether to seek the death penalty.
Tebedge is accused of using a knife to kill his father and younger sister. His father’s dismembered body was found last week, stuffed in suitcases and a duffel bag and dumped near Interstate 5 in Fresno County.
Police said his sister’s body was dumped near Highway 101 in Santa Barbara County.
Suspect has a ‘history of mental issues’ LAPD says
By Jean-Paul Renaud, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
A South Los Angeles man who allegedly dismembered his father’s body and dumped the pieces beside a freeway near Fresno had a “history of mental issues,” police said Monday.
Los Angeles Police Cmdr. Pat Gannon said Mulushewa Tebedge, 33, used a knife to cut off his father’s arms and head in the family’s apartment last week to better “handle the body.”
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From a Times Staff Writer
November 26, 2007
A 33-year-old man was being held in Los Angeles County Jail on Sunday on suspicion of killing a 73-year-old Los Angeles man and his 33-year-old daughter, whose bodies were found near freeways in Fresno and Santa Barbara counties, police said.
Mulushewa Tebedge was arrested Wednesday after he jumped from a second-story window of a home in the 1200 block of West 39th Street in South Los Angeles and ran from police, officials said.
Police went to the house after hearing from the Fresno County Sheriff’s Department that a body found near Interstate 5 had been traced to the address.
While questioning Tebedge, detectives learned of the second victim, whose body was found off U.S. 101 in Santa Barbara, according to authorities.
The names of the victims were not released, but investigators found evidence linking Tebedge to the deaths, officials said. Investigators believe that the slayings took place in the 39th Street house and the suspect was “somehow related” to the victims, police said.
Tebedge is being held in lieu of $1-million bail and is expected to be arraigned today, Los Angeles Police Department spokeswoman Karen Smith said.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to contact LAPD South Bureau homicide detectives at (213) 485-4341.
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By Sontaya Rose, KFSN-TV, www.abc30.com
11/23/07 – A body found in suitcases along Interstate Five in western Fresno County apparently wasn’t the only victim killed and dumped along a highway.
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Caltrans workers discovered a body Tuesday morning off Interstate Five near Kamm Avenue in Fresno County.
Now authorities in southern California tell action news another body was found by investigators along Highway 101 in Santa Barbara County.
Action news reporter Sontaya Rose is in the newsroom with more on the suspect in both murders.
Los Angeles police say the suspect is a relative of the victims. Fresno county coroners say it appears the 76 year old victim was murdered and within 24 hours dumped hundreds of miles away from the crime scene.
Caltrans workers made the first discovery Tuesday morning. A body cut into several pieces and dumped along Interstate Five and Kamm.
“The way it was dissected is a little unusual. It looked like it was done with some skill. It wasn’t just casually done. It was done with some precision,” said Dr. David Hadden, Fresno County Coroner.
That victim has been identified as 76 year old Getahun Reta.
Wednesday investigators with the Los Angeles police department went to Reta’s south LA apartment, where they found a crime scene and a man who didn’t want to talk to police.
“When they knocked on the front door, a suspect jumped out of a second floor window and started to run away but he was chased down and captured,” said Jason Lee, Los Angeles Police Dept.
33 year old Mulushewa Tebedge was arrested for murder after a short chase LA detectives say while interviewing him, they learned about another victim, Reta’s daughter. Her body was dumped in Santa Barbara County.
“He’s in custody that is the good news. But it’s unfortunate its thanksgiving weekend and we have to work on a heinous crime like this.”
Fresno county coroner David Hadden says in past cases, he’s seen bodies dismembered because it makes them easier and more discreet to move.
“If I had to guess this was an expediency to make it fit in the containers which in this case were suitcases. I suspect they wanted it to fit into the suitcases because they could transport the body easily,” said Hadden.
Investigators believe the suspect and victims all lived together in the same apartment.
The 33 year old suspect is in the Los Angeles county jail tonight on two counts of murder. His bail is one million dollars.