A homeless man admitted on Friday, Aug. 14 to killing another man at a busy intersection in Orange and was immediately sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for the 2020 slaying.
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Mario Anthony De La Torre, 39, pleaded guilty to second degree murder and possession of a controlled substance, a court record shows. He was given credit for the more than five years he has spent in county jail while awaiting trial.
De La Torre was arrested shortly after the body of Juan Murillo was found facedown in bushes near the corner of Tustin Street and Chapman Avenue around 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 15, 2020. A detective testified during a 2022 preliminary hearing that there was a belt or cord that had been wrapped around Murillo’s neck and injuries to his face.
Video surveillance footage from a nearby car dealership apparently showed a man — later identified as De La Torre — acting erratically while walking westbound on Chapman toward Tustin. Officers during the preliminary hearing described De La Torre as flailing his arms and appearing to yell at passing cars. One passing motorist told a detective that he heard “crazy blabber” as he drove by with his windows down and described a man — presumably De La Torre — who looked like a “nut bag.”
Murillo was apparently confronted by De La Torre at a nearby bus stop. Though the security camera’s view of the bus stop was blocked, the footage did show him yelling at someone. And when the footage showed Murillo getting up and walking away, De La Torre could be seen following him, officers testified.
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When the two men reached the bushes, De La Torre appeared to kick Murillo and then push and drag him into the shrubbery, where the security camera’s view was blocked, police testified during the 2022 hearing. Minutes later, officers testified, De La Torre is seen coming back into view of the camera, making a “stomping type motion” and then walking away.
Officers testified that Murillo was dead when they arrived at the scene. Based on the security footage, a description of De La Torre was given to officers. A motorcycle officer spotted him near a river bed three-quarters of a mile away, according to the previous testimony.
After a brief pursuit — during which De La Torre threw what officers described as methamphetamine into a nearby backyard — De La Torre was taken into custody. A family member later told a detective that De La Torre had been suffering from apparently undiagnosed mental issues, and was known to use cocaine and methamphetamine.
Murillo’s exact age wasn’t clear in the court record. A detective previously testified that Murillo’s California ID listed his birth date in the 1950s, while his family said he was born in the 1930s and was 89-years-old when he died.
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