RIVERSIDE, CA — A young man accused of fatally stabbing a 63-year-old Perris resident in a premeditated attack was charged Thursday with first- degree murder and other offenses.
Luis Ernesto Rosas, 19, of Moreno Valley, was arrested Monday following a two-week investigation by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department into the slaying of Ronald Gargano.
Along with murder, Rosas was charged with a special circumstance allegation of lying in wait and a sentence-enhancing allegation of using a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony.
The defendant, who is being held without bail at the Robert Presley Jail, was slated to make his initial court appearance Thursday afternoon at the Riverside Hall of Justice.
According to sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Kelleher, on the morning of Jan. 18, Gargano was in the area of Foothill Avenue and Nuevo Road, just east of Perris, when he was assaulted by a then-unknown person for reasons not disclosed.
The victim was stabbed and left for dead.
Kelleher said witnesses discovered Gargano’s remains not long afterward, and when patrol deputies confirmed the nature of the man’s death, the case was turned over to the Central Homicide Unit, whose detectives ultimately uncovered evidence pointing to Rosas as the alleged assailant.
A possible motive was not disclosed.
The defendant was tracked down and taken into custody without incident on Dracaea Avenue in Moreno Valley.
He has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.
