The husband of a housekeeper for the Catholic bishop found shot to death over the weekend in his Hacienda Heights home was charged with murder on Wednesday, Feb. 22.
If convicted as charged, Carlos Medina, who is in his sixties, could face 35 years to life.
District Attorney George Gascon announced the decision in a downtown Los Angeles news conference.
A possible motive has not been revealed yet by the authorities, although Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna has said Medina, who worked for the bishop in some capacity, contended the clergyman owed him money.
But at the news conference, sheriff’s Lt. Michael Modica said Medina made various statements after his arrest about a possible motive, but investigators found them to be largely nonsensical, leading them to believe there’s no validity to the idea that the bishop owing the suspect money contributed to the killing. It is unclear if the bishop even owed the suspect anything.
The body of Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell, 69, was discovered early Saturday afternoon in a bedroom in his home. He had at least one gunshot wound in his upper body.
Sunday night, a tipster told authorities that Medina had been speaking oddly and claimed the bishop owed him money, the sheriff said. Further, a dark-colored compact SUV similar to the one driven by the housekeeper had been seen in surveillance video pulling into the driveway of O’Connell’s home on Saturday.
Hours after the tipster talked with investigators, they went to Medina’s home in unincorporated West Carson near Torrance. He wasn’t there but showed up hours later. They tried to talk with but he refused to come out until 8:15 a.m. Monday, when he was arrested.
The investigators found two firearms inside the home that were to be tested to determine whether either was used to kill O’Connell.
Medina could make his first court appearance Wednesday afternoon.
City News Service contributed to this report.
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