Home of fatal stabbing recalled as troubled by neighbors, deputies

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Neighbors recall the home in which stabbing victim Maria Acevedo lived – and died suddenly Monday – as a home apparently troubled by domestic strife.

Acevedo, 56, whose family runs a restaurant in Valencia called Margaritas Mexican Grill, was found by her husband inside their home on Castille Lane, stabbed in the upper torso.

The woman’s son, 24-year-old Jesse Lucatero, was arrested four hours after the stabbing, initially as a person of interest and then as the man suspected of murdering his mother.

Lucatero was arrested by deputies of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station at 5 p.m. on suspicion of murder, detained with bail set at $2 million.

“We have been to the house on previous occasions,” Lt. Rob Hahnlein told The Signal Tuesday.

Castille Lane residents recall those previous occasions as incidents punctuating the otherwise quiet character of their neighborhood.

Connie Green, who has lived in the neighborhood for more than ten years, is of one of the residents stunned by news of Monday’s fatal stabbing.

“Twice that I know of, he (Lucatero) was outside completely naked and acting in a crazy manner,” she said.  “We don’t if it was drugs or mental illness, but both times the police came and he was arrested.

“It’s always disturbing when something like this happens just a few doors from where you live,” Green said. “I think the neighborhood has that opportunity to be close and be strong.

“Through Neighborhood Watch and that kind of thing we can pull together and see out way clear out of this,” she said.

Lucatero was transferred from the local jail to the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown Los Angeles.

He is scheduled to appear in San Fernando Superior Court Wednesday, according to information maintained by the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department’s Inmate Information Center.

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.

 

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