Man Arrested in Murrieta is Suspected of Killing 2 in San Diego

UPDATE 2/21/11:

The identities of the victims in a suspected double homicide near Poway Sunday have been released. Dead are 23-year-old Valerie Marabante and 26-year-old Bernabe Villamar. Arrested was 41-year-old Melchor Fonseca Marabante. The Marabantes were married, but estranged. Melchor was arrested in Murrieta on Sunday on suspicion of the killings.

Lt. Kevin Rooney with the San Diego Police Homicide Division said Melchor was staying at a residence in Murrieta for about a week after moving out of the couple's Sabre Springs apartment.

Rooney said San Diego Police were assisted by the Riverside County Sheriff's Department in the events leading up to Melchor's arrest in Murrieta Sunday.

ORIGINAL POST 2/20/11:

A 41-year-old man suspected of killing his 23-year-old wife and another man in San Diego County was arrested Sunday at a Murrieta hospital, San Diego Police said.

The body of a male and the suspect's wife were found dead in an apartment in Sabre Springs near Poway Sunday morning.

Detectives then came to Murrieta to arrest the man on suspicion of murder, San Diego police Lt. Kevin Rooney said in a news release. It was not revelealed why he was at the hospital, only that he arrived there at 8:08 a.m. Sunday.

The bodies were found in the Evening Creek apartment community at 8:18 a.m., according to police. Both victims suffered traumatic injuries and were declared dead at the scene.

Detectives also served a search warrant at a Murrieta home Sunday afternoon, according to the news release.

The 41-year-old husband is expected to be charged with two counts of murder.

No additional information was available from police, but Rooney told the Union-Tribune that there was at least one report of gunfire around 3 a.m. Neighbors told the newspaper that they saw the couple move in about a month ago but they didn't know that the husband reportedly moved out on Feb. 13.

The victims had not been positively identified as of 7 p.m. Sunday, but Rooney said the apartment was rented to a woman who had recently become estranged from her husband. The names of the victims nor the suspect were being released until the female victim's family was notified.

As of 11 p.m. Sunday, investigators were still at the scene of the killings, according to San Diego police spokesman Gary Hassen.

Maggie Avants and City News Service contributed to this report.