A man sought by authorities for months has been arrested in the 2022 killing of a woman at a hotel in Laguna Niguel, authorities said Saturday.
David Moreno, 38, of San Juan Capistrano was arrested Friday after homicide detectives “conducted an exhaustive and thorough investigation,” the Orange County Sheriff's Department tweeted.
The OCSD had asked for the public's help to locate Moreno in October. The victim was identified as 36-year-old Griselda Petra Pinedareta.
Friends of Pinedareta told NBC4 they hope for justice for her three children. "I just want people to know that she was a mother, she was a daughter," said one friend. "She really meant something."
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Sheriff's deputies were dispatched at about noon on Oct. 15 to the hotel in the 28000 block of Camino Capistrano to aid an “unresponsive” woman in the room, according to Sgt. Todd Hylton. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene, and investigators suspected she was a homicide victim.
Pinedareta's 1999 Honda Civic was missing, but investigators later recovered it, Hylton said.
Anyone with information helpful to investigators was asked to call the sheriff's department at 714-288-6740. Orange County Crime Stoppers will accept anonymous tips at 855-TIP-OCCS.
