Police Arrest Parolee in Fatal Stabbing, Beating

RESEDA —  A 42-year-old man was clubbed and stabbed to death early Saturday by a prison parolee he had met a few hours earlier and invited to his house to drink beer, authorities said.

The motive for the killing was robbery, and the attacker was identified as Vincent Leroy Brown, 41, who was arrested on suspicion of murder after he returned to the house a short time after the attack, said Det. Rick Swanston of the Los Angeles Police Department’s West Valley station.

Swanston said the name of the victim was being withheld pending notification of relatives.

Early Saturday, the victim had gone to a convenience store with a homeless woman he was letting stay at his house in the 7400 block of Tampa Avenue, according to authorities. There, the two met Brown, struck up a conversation, and invited him back to the house.

Swanston declined to reveal the crimes that landed Brown in state prison.

About 4:30 a.m., without warning, Brown started beating the victim with a baseball bat, and also stabbed him and slashed his throat, Swanston said. He also ransacked the house looking for valuables.

Brown then called his 60-year-old mother, with whom he lived two blocks away, and asked her to come pick him up, authorities said. He put his bicycle in the trunk of his mother’s car and left with less than $100.

The homeless woman--whose identity was withheld for safety reasons--witnessed the attack and called 911.

Paramedics from the Los Angeles Fire Department pronounced the man dead at the scene, said Bob Collis, a spokesman for the department.

Before homicide detectives arrived, Brown came back and asked patrol officers about the condition of the victim, acknowledging he had been in the house earlier, authorities said.

The officers already had a description of the assailant from the homeless woman and took Brown to the station for questioning, Swanston said. She later identified him as the killer.

“It was bizarre,” Swanston said. “He inadvertently made himself available for arrest.”

The bat and knife used in the attack were recovered, Swanston said.

Brown was being held without bail at Van Nuys Jail, Swanston said. Police concluded his mother was not aware of the crime, and she was questioned and released.