Suspect in O.C. Homicide Arrested at Border

A suspect in an Orange County murder case was arrested Friday and taken into custody as he crossed the U. S. border at San Ysidro, but initial details were scarce.

Orange County Sheriff’s Lt. Tom Garner said homicide detectives were en route late Friday to San Diego County to pick up the suspect, identified as Esteban Ramirez, a Guatemalan citizen.

The suspect had been named in an arrest warrant in connection with a 1990 slaying, and was detained and interviewed by FBI agents, Garner said. The agents then contacted sheriff’s investigators, who left about 5:30 p.m. for the border.

Garner said he knew few details of the case, including who was slain or when. It appeared the suspect, whose age was unknown, was detained after a computerized fingerprint check matched him to the outstanding warrant issued out of Orange County.

Officials must first establish if the identity the suspect gave authorities is correct.

“If he is who he says he is,” Garner added, “then we will book him on the old warrant.”

In 1990, sheriff’s officials sought the public’s help in locating an Esteban Adolfo Ramirez in connection with the May 29 stabbing death of Colombian-born Ana Castellanos, 49.

Castellanos’ son and daughter had discovered her fully clothed body inside her El Toro apartment, in the 25000 block of Farthing Street, after they returned from renting a video about 8:50 p.m.

In June of that year, officials released Ramirez’s name as a possible suspect in the case but declined to disclose his relationship to Castellanos. Ramirez, 21 at the time, had been working as a baker in Santa Ana, they said.

It is unclear whether the Esteban Ramirez detained at the border Friday is the same person sought by officials in connection with the Castellanos slaying.