A man already serving a lengthy prison term for convictions in the Los Angeles area was being held in county jail in San Diego Wednesday after being re-arrested in connection with a homicide that occurred in Spring Valley nine years ago.
Marlin Lattereal Royal, 42, was booked Monday in connection with the shooting death of 29-year-old Idris Jones in the Steele Canyon area on May 7, 2007.
About 10:30 p.m. that day, Jones was found dead from a shotgun blast to the head on the roadside in the 2300 block of Millar Ranch Road, according to homicide detectives and the county Medical Examiner’s Office.
The investigation into the slaying eventually went cold and remained that way until Royal was identified this month as the alleged killer. The suspect was booked Monday on suspicion of murder, sheriff’s Lt. Kenneth Nelson said.
Royal was serving a 40-year sentence for robbery and kidnapping when he was charged in the San Diego-area case. The lieutenant declined to disclose what led detectives to identify the inmate as a suspect in the slaying of Jones.
–City News Service