Man suspected of killing L.A. renter, stalking building’s halls is arrested

Los Angeles police have apprehended the man allegedly seen on Ring doorbell cameras stalking the halls of a San Fernando Valley apartment building, then breaking into one of the units and killing the resident inside.

Erick Escamilla, 27, was taken into custody at a West Hills hospital, according to law enforcement authorities, the culmination of a regional manhunt following a slaying late last month in Valley Village. The killing struck fear into residents and sparked questions about the length of time it took for police to discover the victim’s body. The body was found three days after neighbors reported screaming and a fight inside the unit.

LAPD investigators finally caught up with Escamilla after tracking his whereabouts and narrowly missing him at least once in the last week. He was arrested Thursday evening on suspicion of murder.

Menashe Hidra’s body was found April 26 inside his fifth-floor Valley Village apartment after an assailant broke into a neighboring unit, jumped from the balcony to his and attacked him, investigators said.

Three days before, neighbors had called 911 and reported hearing shouting and a struggle coming from the apartment. Officers responded to those calls, knocked on the door and left without finding anything.

Hidra’s body was discovered inside his top-floor unit at the Ashton Sherman Village complex by officers doing a welfare check after a friend became concerned. Hidra was pronounced dead at the scene.

Prior to the latest allegations, Escamilla was facing misdemeanor charges in a February incident in the San Fernando Valley including trespass, entering a noncommercial dwelling and resisting arrest and was free on $10,000 bail. San Fernando police had previously arrested him in December.

LAPD officials said that social media rumors of a serial killer at large in the area were wrong and that, at this point, Hydra’s death has not been connected to any other killings.

The LAPD has launched internal investigations into officers’ responses to this killing and another slaying in Woodland Hills; in both incidents, officers did not find the victims because they did not go inside.

On Tuesday, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell addressed the two incidents during a meeting of the city’s civilian police commission, the department’s oversight board. McDonnell acknowledged officers did not immediately enter either home and said he’d opened administrative investigations in connection with their responses.

The same day that Hidra’s body was discovered, so was the body of Aleksandre Modebadze, who was beaten to death inside his Woodland Hills home. In that case, a woman inside the home called 911 and reported the assault, but officers who arrived knocked and left. Only upon returning later did they find Modebadze, mortally injured.

The suspects in the Woodland Hills homicide have been arrested.

A wall between Menashe Hidra’s apartment in Valley Village and a neighboring, vacant one was stained with blood.

(Richard Winton / Los Angeles Times)

In a recording of a police dispatch call before 4 a.m. April 23, a dispatcher is heard reporting the call to officers in the field: “Van Nuys units, possible ADW [assault with a deadly weapon] in progress … caller hears two males fighting and wrestling, banging and yelling.” Multiple law enforcement sources say police officers responded to the scene but never entered the apartment.

A day before Hidra’s body was discovered, LAPD officers investigated a burglary at the vacant apartment next door. Inside, officers found a shattered skylight and dried blood, according to two sources not authorized to discuss the investigation.

Investigators suspect the killer may have broken into the vacant apartment neighboring Hidra’s through a skylight, then moved from the unit’s balcony to his.

Blood was left on a stairwell door handle at the Valley Village apartment complex where Menashe Hidra was killed.

(Richard Winton / Los Angeles Times)

Bloody handprints and marks were visible on the wall between Hidra’s balcony and the vacant apartment when a reporter visited with residents last week. Blood was also visible on the door handle of a stairwell exit, where the assailant was seen fleeing the building in a video released by police.