SEWER BODY PARTS ID'D AS MISSING LA COUNTY WOMAN'S: LOS ANGELES (AP) — Authorities on Tuesday identified a woman whose body parts were found at two Los Angeles County water treatment plants, but there was still no word on how she died.
The remains are those of Erin Lynn Cruz, 27, who lived in the East San Gabriel Valley, according to a Sheriff's Department statement.
She was last seen alive on the evening of Oct. 23 in the La Puente area east of Los Angeles.
Most of the lower half of her body was found Oct. 26 at a wastewater treatment plant in Carson. Two days later, her upper body, minus an arm, was found about 30 miles away at a treatment plant in Bassett.
The remains were discovered in bins that hold debris separated from sewage wastewater.
TEXT MESSAGES TO CA DRUG SUSPECT LEAD TO ARRESTS: SEBASTOPOL (AP) — A suspected drug dealer's cellphone just wouldn't stop buzzing after he was taken into custody, leading police to two additional arrests in Northern California.
Sebastopol police say they arrested 19-year-old Rafael Alexander Onofre — who is on parole for a felony methamphetamine-selling conviction — at about 9 p.m. on Saturday when they found he was carrying 24 nitrous oxide canisters.
After the arrest, text messages began appearing on Onofre's phone from someone offering to sell him hashish.
The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports that officers texted the person back, posing as Onofre and setting up a meeting.
METAL DEBRIS CAUSES MAJOR BART DELAYS: OAKLAND (AP) — Metal debris on a Bay Area Rapid Transit track in Oakland caused major delays during Tuesday's evening commute.
BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost says the debris was found at about 6:15 p.m. between the opening of the Transbay Tube and the West Oakland station.
Trost says the debris obstructed the third rail, affecting all trains running between San Francisco and the East Bay.
INMATE KILLED TO STAY IN PRISON: FLORENCE, Ariz. (AP) — A Mexican citizen illegally in the United States killed a prison cellmate in order to remain in custody, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said Tuesday.
The Sheriff's Office said it is recommending that prosecutors charge 43-year-old Roberto Venegas-Fernandez with first-degree murder in the Nov. 16 killing of 55-year-old Michael Patrick McNaughton
Both men were prisoners of the U.S. Marshals Service, which has said they were from the San Diego area and housed at a Corrections Corp. of America prison in Florence pending their transfer to the Bureau of Prisons.
The killing occurred during what was initially reported as a fight between the two men.
However, Sheriff Paul Babeu said Venegas-Fernandez told investigators that he choked and stomped McNaughton because "he likes it in prison and was afraid of being released, since he has nowhere to go."
