ROSSMOOR — An 18-year-old Rossmoor man has been arrested on attempted murder charges for allegedly attacking a female jogger Tuesday, Orange County Sheriff’s Department officials said late Thursday..
The suspect, identified as James Rivas, lives only three blocks from the scene of the attack, said sheriff’s spokeswoman Gail Krause.
Rivas is being held on $500,000 bail, and he’s scheduled to be arraigned Monday, Krause said.
The suspect was taken into custody about 7:45 p.m. Thursday at a Rossmoor house where he lives with his parents, according to sheriff’s officials. The arrest was made just as sheriff’s deputies were holding a packed meeting at a nearby community center, where about 200 concerned residents were in attendance.
“We’ve been conducting a nonstop investigation for two days and we’ve had over 20 people out here with some of our best investigators trying to get some good leads in this case, and I think we got some tonight and that has led us to this residence here, and we have a suspect and he’s in custody right now and we are questioning him,” Lt. Mike Gavin of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department told reporters later that night.
The jogger was grabbed from behind and stabbed three times at 9:11 p.m. Tuesday as she ran in the 3200 block of Bostonian Drive, deputies said.
The woman, who was released from the hospital Wednesday, knocked the knife out of the assailant’s hand after the first stab wound was inflicted, but
the suspect managed to knock her down and stab her two more times, deputies said, adding that the woman was stabbed in the face, an arm and a hand.
A nearby resident heard the commotion and rushed outside, and the assailant fled on a BMX bicycle, deputies said.
A neighbor of the suspect told reporters Thursday night that the suspect often rides a BMX bike in the neighborhood.
Prior to making the arrest, sheriff’s investigators obtained a warrant to search the house where the suspect lives.
The motive for the attack was still unclear Friday. Sheriff’s officials said at the Thursday night community meeting that they believed the attack was random.
“He made no attempt to sexually assault her. He didn’t say one word,” Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Jim Amormino told the crowd.
Members of this unincorporated suburban community of about 10,000 people, which is nestled between Seal Beach and Los Alamitos, said they were shocked and horrified by the attack.
Sheriff’s officials said they couldn’t think of the last time a similar violent attack took place in Rossmoor and that infrequency was part of the reason they said the meeting was held.
“This is a small community that doesn’t experience violent crime,” Sheriff’s Capt. Steve Doan said. “That’s one of the reasons we held this community meeting.
“We want to tell people what happened and tell them what we are doing to solve it and to hear their concerns.”
The stabbing had heightened fears in the normally quiet community.
“I feel absolutely safe in Rossmoor,” said Dorothy Fitzgerald, a board member with the Rossmoor Homeowners Association. “But when something like this happens, we are hyper-vigilant.”
City News Service contributed to this report.
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