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Suspect wanted in '02 killing found
Man scheduled to be in court next week
| Friday, Apr 20 2007 11:45 PM
Last Updated: Friday, Apr 20 2007 11:48 PM
Enrique Ortiz Jr. stopped in Bakersfield Billiards on March 9, 2002, because the pool hall he usually visited was crowded.
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Ortiz was gunned down in the bathroom that night. The suspect, Francisco Bello Benitez, could not be found.
Benitez was finally captured during a routine traffic stop in Arizona last month. Officers ran his name through a database and discovered there was a warrant for his arrest in Kern County.
Monday, Benitez was booked into Kern County Jail and charged with first-degree murder. His next court date is scheduled for Wednesday, according to the Kern County Superior Court Web site.
"There will never really be closure, but now there can be healing," Ortiz's aunt, Flora Ortega, said Friday.
She described her nephew as a joker who made everyone laugh wherever he went. He stayed away from drugs and gangs, instead focusing his energy on fixing up his truck.
"That was his pride and joy," Ortega said.
She said she doesn't know if Ortiz and Benitez had run into each other before. She's still not sure why he was shot.
Sheriff's Sgt. Ed Komin said the circumstances surrounding the arrest of Benitez aren't that unusual.
"Usually what happens is that routine patrol and good plain police work result in good, quality arrests," Komin said.