On April 28th, Joseph McMullen, 29, was shot behind his mother’s S. 7tgh Street home; he had survived another shooting in a nearby park just a week earlier.John M. Ramirez Jr., 59, and Joan Wotkyns, 55, residents of upscale Las Pasadas on the west side of Santa Paula, were bludgeoned and stabbed in their bed on Oct. 21st during a robbery/burglary. Adam Sarabia, a 16-year-old resident of the same development, has been arrested for the double homicide and faces trial as an adult.Less than a week later, on Oct. 27th, Rusty Marcello Zuniga, 25 of Port Hueneme, was shot in the street outside a home on Cameron Street where a Halloween party was being held.On Nov. 24th, Jose Jaime Arellano, 27, of Santa Paula was stabbed on Garcia Street after drinking with friends at Ruben’s Lounge. Arellano reportedly had argued with another customer at the bar and although he left the bar, he told his friends he was going back. Arellano, who owned an area car repair business, was later found dead on Garcia Street in almost the exact same spot where the first homicide victim of the year, Perez, had been slain.
Six murders in the Glen City: SP leads county with 2002 homicides
January 10, 2003
Santa Paula News
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula TimesSanta Paula led the county with a city record of six homicides during 2002, even though the homicide rate fell overall in Ventura County.There were 23 homicides in Ventura County in 2002, with Santa Paula and Oxnard, which saw a rash of gang killings, accounting for about two-thirds. Oxnard had the most homicides with 11, and Santa Paula’s six murders made it the deadliest year ever in the city. Santa Paula’s homicides included a gruesome double slaying, the first in almost 10 years.Three homicides occurred in Ventura and one each in Port Hueneme, Camarillo and El Rio. Simi Valley, which had six homicides in 2001, had none in 2002.Santa Paula remained homicide free in 2001, and had only three in 1999 and 2000 combined. During the 1990s there was a two-year period when there was no homicides.Santa Paula’s six homicides in 2002 started with a 16-year-old farm worker walking home from Ruben’s Lounge with relatives after a night of drinking. Salvador Perez died on Garcia Street when stabbed during a botched robbery.
