Rancho Bernardo man arrested in murder case

SAN DIEGO (CNS) - A next-door neighbor of the Rancho Bernardo woman stabbed to death Thursday was jailed Sunday on suspicion of murder.

Richard Saldivar, 40, was arrested about 8:20 a.m. Saturday after police interviewed him through the night in the death of 28-year-old Jennifer Lee Jones, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

Saldivar, booked on suspicion of murder, is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in San Diego Superior Court.

Jones lived alone in a ground-floor apartment for the past 2 1/2 years, San Diego homicide Lt. Kevin Rooney said.

“He literally lives 20 feet (from the victim). His front door faces her front door,” Rooney said. He said detectives had a motive but he would not release it.

Saldivar, who is unemployed, lived at the complex for several months with his family, Rooney said.

Clues from Jones’ final telephone conversation with her mother helped lead detectives to Saldivar. She was talking on her cell phone with her mother, who was in Ohio, about 4:45 p.m. Thursday as she walked through the parking lot of her complex on Avenida Venusto.

The mother told police that she heard a man’s voice, followed by a screeching or yelling sound. The woman then lost contact with her daughter. She tried to call her back but was unsuccessful, so she contacted San Diego police.

“We were able to talk to her in a little more in detail about the content of the conversation. That helped us focus on Saldivar,” Rooney said.

Tags: Jennifer Lee Jones, murder, Richard Saldivar, SDNN, stabbing

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 25th, 2009 at 9:25 am and is filed under Crime. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.