On Tuesday, February 16, 2021, authorities announced the arrest of Tracy Walker in connection with the deaths of three people found stabbed near homeless encampments in Rancho Dominguez, Los Angeles.
Walker, 56, was booked into jail February 11 on suspicion of killing 26-year-old Patricia Loeza, 26-year-old Kenneth Jones, and 30-year-old Cesar Mazariegos. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Walker has been charged with three counts of murder and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon, alleging he used a knife in all three incidents.
Officials said Loeza was found dead with multiple stab wounds to the upper torso down a dirt embankment, east of the Compton creek bed, just after midnight on June 7, 2020. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Nearly eight months later, on Jan. 15 2021, Kenneth Jones was found not far from that location. The man also had stab wounds in his upper torso, and he had suffered blunt force trauma to the head, the Sheriff’s Department said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Then, on Feb. 9, 2021, deputies patrolling the same area due to the recent homicides, came upon Cesar Mazariegos. The Sheriff’s Department previously said officers found a body rolled up inside a large carpet, beaten and stabbed. He was declared dead at the scene.
It appeared that all three victims had been staying at homeless encampments at or near the Compton Creek bed, the Sheriff’s Department said.
Detectives linked Walker to the killings and found him at an encampment near the Compton Creek last week, according to officials. It wasn’t clear how the Sheriff’s Department connected Walker to the killings, but while being interviewed by homicide detectives, officials said he implicated himself in all three cases.
He remains in jail on $2 million bail.
Prosecutors are seeking a life sentence for Walker, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
On December 27, 1991, police shot and wounded a man named Tracy Walker after he had shot a man to death. Witnesses said a man shot another man (at 2:40am) while driving a small yellow school bus, then filed the scene. About 11 minutes later, two officers stopped the bus and ordered him out of the bus. Police say he pulled a gun on the cops and was shot numerous times.
He was 27 at the time, which would be about right for this Tracy Walker, and this Tracy Walker is a felon.
Sources : KTLA5 NEWS, NBC Los Angeles News, LA Times
UPDATE: On October 18, 2021, Tracy Walker, “an ex-con was sentenced Monday to 110 years to life in state prison for murdering a woman and two men in separate attacks over an eight-month span in an area where homeless were staying in the Rancho Dominguez area.
Tracy Walker, now 57, pleaded guilty Sept. 16 [2021] to three counts of murder for the slayings of Patricia Loeza, Kenneth Edward Jones and Cesar Mazariegos.
Walker also admitted he had a prior strike from 1993 for voluntary manslaughter, according to Deputy District Attorney Hilary Williams.”
From MyNewsLA.com