Homicide Investigators have made an arrest in the fatal stabbing of a woman in Saugus Monday afternoon.
Jesse Lucatero, 24, was booked on a murder charge in the fatal stabbing of his mother, 56-year-old Maria Acevedo, a spokeswoman for the LA County Sheriff’s Department announced in a news release.
Lucatero was arrested Monday night following an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the stabbing death of his mother in the 19500 block of Castille Lane, according to LA County Sheriff’s Department officials.
At one minute after 1 p.m., paramedics with the Los Angeles County Fire Department were dispatched to the Saugus home, a spokeswoman for the Fire Department said.
Paramedics arrived at the scene at 1:06 p.m. and pronounced the person dead at 1:08 p.m., she said.
“The call came in as a cardiac arrest,” the Fire Department spokeswoman said. “They requested an ambulance but it was A DOA (dead on arrival).”
Paramedics described the call as a “possible crime scene,” she said.
Sheriff’s deputies stretched yellow tape around an area where the assault occurred.
Homicide detectives were called to the scene to investigate the circumstances surrounding the woman’s death, LASD Deputy Kelvin Moody said in the release.
Officials described the slaying as a “knife attack” and that “the woman suffered a knife wound to the upper torso.
Deputies immediately began looking for a suspect in the stabbing.
“We know that the husband and one of their adult sons lived at this residence,” Homicide Lt. Joe Mendoza said. “The husband is the one who called 911. Right now we’re detaining the son as a person of interest.”
By late afternoon, deputies spotted the slain woman’s son near the Westfield Valencia Town Center mall. A quick perimeter was formed near Citrus Street and Valencia Boulevard.
“We did have one person detained after a foot pursuit,” Sgt. Brian Allen of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station said late Monday afternoon.
Mendoza said deputies had responded to the Saugus address in the past and that they “had previous calls for service,” adding he did not know “the exact nature” of those calls.
Before homicide detectives were notified, deputies with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station were initially investigating an assault at the Saugus home, Lt. Byron Wainie told The Signal.
As the investigation was unfolding, an unidentified woman seen crying near the scene collapsed suddenly on Castille Lane, according to one eye witness.
Four deputies attended to the woman and carried her to the lawn of a nearby home.
A Sheriff’s Department news release said Lucatero is being held on $2 million bail.
Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500.
If you prefer to provide information anonymously, you may call “Crime Stoppers” by dialing 800-222-TIPS (8477), use your smartphone by downloading the “P3 Tips” Mobile APP, or “P3 Mobile” for the hearing impaired, on Google play or the App Store, or by using the website https://lacrimestoppers.org
661-287-5527
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