Man charged with murder, kidnapping in death of Andrea Vasquez, 19, in California

A man has been charged with murder in connection with the kidnapping of a 19-year-old woman who was found dead after being taken from a park in Southern California, authorities said.

Police arrested Gabriel Esparza, 20, on Monday afternoon after linking him to the kidnapping of Andrea Vasquez at a park in the Los Angeles suburb of Whittier on Sunday, the Whittier Police Department said in a statement on Facebook.

He was charged with murder, attempted murder, kidnapping and two counts of forcible rape among other charges, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced Wednesday.

“The heinous nature of this crime, involving the murder, kidnapping and attempted rape of an innocent young woman, shocks our community to its core,” Gascón said. “In these moments of profound sorrow, I send my deepest condolences to Ms. Vasquez’s family as they cope with this painful tragedy.”

Esparza pleaded not guilty Wednesday at an arraignment, the district attorney's office said. He is being held without bail.

Andrea Vazquez and her boyfriend were approached by a gunman at a park

Police said Vazquez was at the park with a man, identified by the district attorney's office as Vazquez's boyfriend, when a shooter approached their car and fired, her boyfriend told police.

The boyfriend said he ran away during the shooting and when he returned, Vazquez was gone and there was blood near his car, police said.

Vazquez and her boyfriend were “randomly targeted” by the shooter, the Whittier Police Department said in an update on the case posted to Facebook.

The district attorney's office said Esparza allegedly kidnapped Vasquez and put her in the bed of his pickup truck.

"He drove her to a remote area of Moreno Valley in Riverside County where he attempted to rape her before dumping her body in a field," the district attorney's office said.

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Police found Vazquez dead in a vegetation field

Esparza was arrested while he was working in the Los Angeles suburb of Lakewood, police said.

Police found Vazquez's body late Monday in a vegetation field in Moreno Valley, about 50 miles from the park where the shooting happened.

Officer Tommy Mattsson, a Whittier police spokesman, declined to say what led police to Esparza or what connected him to the shooting, but told Paste BN that "detectives pursued several leads during the course of the non-stop investigation, which ultimately led them to arrest the suspect and identify the area of Moreno valley where the body was left."

Police said they they recovered the gun believed to have been used in the shooting in Esparza’s truck.