VENTURA – Stabbings usually occur on city streets pursuant to altercations among individuals that progress from the verbal to the physical, leaving the victim sprawled on a sidewalk. That was undoubtedly the expectation of Ventura County Sheriff’s Department deputies just after midnight on December 14th when they rolled up to the busy intersection of Las Posas Road and Daily Drive in Camarillo in response to a 911 Emergency call reporting a stabbing victim at that location.
According to Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Detective Michael Marco, they found a young male victim “with multiple stab wounds to the back and neck.” The victim was promptly transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital, but his wounds appeared severe enough to deputies that they called in the Sheriff’s Major Crimes and Camarillo Special Enforcement Unit to investigate the scene. That investigation revealed evidence of an assault, as well as the identity of a prime suspect in the violence, Bobby Arellano, a 32-year-old resident of Santa Maria, some 100 miles to the north.
Detectives pressed their investigation throughout the pre-dawn hours, ultimately arriving at a home in Lompoc with a search warrant in hand. Inside the home, Arellano was discovered and summarily taken into custody without incident.
A further search of the residence “revealed evidence linking Arellano to the stabbing,” and he was placed under arrest at that time. Further investigation revealed that both Arellano and victim had been riding in the back seat of a car driven by an Arellano associate, traveling through Camarillo, when the stabbing occurred inside the vehicle while traveling northbound on U.S. 101.
With the bloody deed allegedly done, Arellano dropped the victim off in Camarillo and then made good his escape. Ventura County Sheriff’s Department Det. Sgt. Dean Worthy indicated to the media “we suspect there was illicit drug use going on inside the vehicle.”
Arellano was transported to Ventura County Jail where he was booked on a charge of attempted murder, with his bail set at $550,000.
