Anaheim Police Make Cold Case Arrest Days Before 19th Anniversary Of Murder
ANAHEIM (CBSLA) -- Days before the 19th anniversary in a cold case murder was to be observed, detectives in Anaheim announced the arrest of the suspect in the case.
Anaheim Police Cold Case Homicide detectives booked Leopoldo Vargas Serrano, 47, a Houston resident, into the Anaheim Detention Facility.
Officials said that Anaheim Police responded to a business front in the 1600 block of North Miller Street around 2 p.m. on October 16, 2000 and found a man suffering from apparent gun shot wounds.
The victim -- later identified as 21-year-old Luis Garcia Bucio of Anaheim -- had been shot to death.
The investigation revealed Serrano, a Bucio co-worker, shot the victim during an argument. On November 2, 2000, an arrest warrant was issued for Serrano. Attempts to apprehend Serrano were unsuccessful. In early 2019, Anaheim Cold Case Homicide detectives, in collaboration with the Orange County District Attorney's TracKRS Unit, learned Serrano had been living under an assumed name in Houston.
On September 11, 2019, Anaheim detectives served a search warrant at Serrano's Houston residence with the assistance of the Houston Police Department.
On that same date, Serrano was arrested by ICE for unlawful entry. Following the ICE arrest, the Orange County D.A.'s Science and Technology Unit assisted Anaheim detectives in confirming Serrano's identity through Rapid DNA technology. Anaheim detectives took custody of Serrano from the United States Marshals Service in Houston and transported him back to Orange County,
Serrano is being held in lieu of $1 million bail.
