After 20 Years, Man Held in Killing

A Baldwin Park man suspected of killing his wife’s lover 20 years ago, fleeing to Mexico and then sneaking back to Los Angeles a few years later to start a new life is behind bars, police said Tuesday.

Francisco Serrano Trujillo, 46, was eating a chicken dinner with his new wife and teenage daughter about 7 p.m. Monday evening when officers arrived at his bungalow in the 4300 block of Bogart Avenue to arrest him in connection with the March 16, 1982, shooting death of Evodio Espinosa.

Trujillo, who had been living under the name Andres Briseno, put down his eating utensils and quietly left with detectives, said Det. Rick Swanston of the LAPD’s West Valley Division.

“He didn’t appear to be all that surprised. In fact, he was calm,” Swanston said. “He initially denied being Trujillo but eventually admitted it.”

Authorities believe Trujillo, angered by a budding relationship between his previous wife, whose name was not immediately available, and Espinosa, killed him with a series of shots from a .22-caliber revolver.

Espinosa, 23, was shot at a house he shared with Trujillo’s brother and five other adults in the 6400 block of Franrivers Avenue in Canoga Park, now part of West Hills.

Police issued a warrant for Trujillo’s arrest immediately after the killing, but he disappeared.

Through the years, detectives worked the unsolved case by regularly checking for clues that might lead them to Trujillo, from driver’s license renewals to property records to traffic citations and arrests.

They called family, friends and witnesses, hoping for a break, Swanston said.

Late last week, they received a tip that Trujillo was living in Baldwin Park under the name of Briseno. Police discovered that Trujillo was working as a truck driver and leading a comfortable life.

“It came out of the blue,” said Det. Brad Roberts. “We got real lucky with this one.”

Detectives watched Trujillo’s activities for two days and compared a recent California driver’s license photo of Andres Briseno with a 20-year-old copy of a license issued to Trujillo, Swanston said.

Trujillo, who pleaded not guilty to murder during his arraignment Tuesday in Van Nuys Superior Court, is being held without bail at the Twin Towers jail in downtown Los Angeles.

Police said Trujillo didn’t completely erase the family name when he assumed his new identity. He used Trujillo as part of his 16-year-old daughter’s name in an effort to keep “a connection to his long-standing family name,” Swanston said.

Police said Trujillo has been working as a truck driver for Safety West, a safety equipment company based in the City of Industry.

Detectives said they are still trying to find Trujillo’s first wife, who left the area soon after the killing.

His current spouse, Diana Briseno, who is pregnant, did not display any emotion when her husband was arrested, Swanston said.

According to police, she and Trujillo met in Mexico in 1986. The couple married, with Trujillo using a fake birth certificate, and moved to Baldwin Park, police said.

A woman who answered the door at the family home Tuesday and identified herself as Diana Briseno’s niece said she was surprised by the arrest but would not discuss it further.

Residents of the Baldwin Park neighborhood where Trujillo lived described him as an honest, hard-working man who helped those in need.

Police said Trujillo owned three bungalow homes on the same lot. His family lives in a rear unit and he rents out the others, they said.

“He was a very helpful landlord,” said Graciela Esparza, 47, a tenant who has lived in one of the bungalows for about a year.

“Whenever anything was wrong with the house, he was available. I had no idea.”

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Times staff writers Sufiya Abdur-Rahman and Jennifer Sinco Kelleher contributed to this report.