A Pacoima man accused of killing a friend he met while both were in rehab together returned to court on Thursday.
David Alonso Figueroa, 35, appeared in San Fernando Superior Court and will return Oct. 26 for a pretrial conference.
On July 30, 2018, detectives with the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department’s Homicide Bureau began investigating the stabbing death of 29-year-old Brent Hariston, of Canyon Country.
Hariston and Figueroa, according to the late Homicide Detective John Corina, met in rehab.
The two men, according to Corina, were scheduled to meet that morning and head to work together. An argument then is believed to have broken out between the two, and that’s when detectives believe Figueroa pulled out a knife and stabbed Hariston multiple times.
The suspect then allegedly fled the scene as deputies were pulling up. The victim’s mother had called the Sheriff’s Department when she first saw the altercation.
The stabbing victim was rushed to the hospital, where he later died, Corina said at the time, describing the stabbing wounds as in the upper body.
Deputies established a containment in the neighborhood and eventually found and apprehended Figueroa, who they believe to be the suspect. Deputies were also able to locate the murder weapon at the scene, found only a few houses down from where Hariston lay, Corina said at the time.
