More than 27 years after two restaurant employees were gunned down in a Santa Ana fast food restaurant, prosecutors said Tuesday they have charged a man with two counts of murder in the crime.
Alejandro Galindo Dominguez, 45, of Ensenada, Mexico, pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder during his arraignment Tuesday, Dec. 18, after being charged on Dec. 12, according to a news release from the Orange County District Attorney’s office.
It said the killings took place in the course of a robbery at the Wienerschnitzel eatery, 1401 W. MacArthur Blvd., in July 1991. The bodies of Andres Bello and Juan Cabral, both of Costa Mesa, were hidden in the restaurant’s freezer before the shooter fled the scene, according to the release. They were 28 and 18 years old at the time of their deaths.
“He said he needed to work,” Bello’s widow, Consuela, told the Register in an interview three days after her husband died. “He was full of dreams for his children. He wanted to give them a future.”
His and Cabral’s slayings had been unsolved until Dominguez turned himself in to Border Patrol agents on Feb. 23, said the District Attorney’s release. He was subsequently brought into the custody of Santa Ana Police and arrested.
The defendant had been living in Mexico when he surrendered himself to authorities, said Santa Ana Police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna. He said detectives had not identified any suspects in the 1991 double homicide until Dominguez stepped forward.
Dominguez’s next scheduled court appearance is a pre-trial hearing scheduled for Jan. 24. If convicted, Dominguez could face life in prison without the possibility of parole. He faces special circumstances allegations including murder during a robbery, multiple murders and personal use of a firearm.
Source: Orange County Register
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