Stockton police launched a manhunt Tuesday for a 38-year-old man wanted in connection with the slayings of a 43-year-old woman and her 19-year-old son.
Working through the night after the gruesome discovery of two bodies at 11 p.m. Monday in the 2500 block of Belleview Avenue, detectives identified Julio Ceasar Valdez as the main suspect in the killings.
Authorities are asking for the public’s help in finding Valdez, offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information about his whereabouts. He was believed to be driving a gray four-door sedan.
While police say Valdez was known to the victims, they have not yet confirmed his relationship with the woman and her son, who were identified Wednesday by the San Joaquin County Medical Examiner’s Office as Stockton residents Alice Montejano and Reuel Huerta.
The crime appeared to be especially vicious, police said, noting that Montejano appeared to have been battered and her son had been cut.
Police asked anyone with knowledge of Valdez’s whereabouts to call them at (209) 937-7911 or submit an anonymous tip to Stockton Crime Stoppers at (209) 946-0600.
The deaths bring this homicide tally to 52, compared to 45 at this time last year.
That total has been pushed up by a spate of violence that began Friday night, when a 52-year-old man later identified as Tyree Jones III of Oakland was shot multiple times in the 400 block of east Bianchi Road in the Valley Oak District. He was rushed to a hospital, where he died from his injuries.
The following morning, a 41-year-old man who has not yet been identified was found shot to death a few blocks away, in the 200 block of Carson Place.
Early Monday, another man was found with multiple gunshot wounds in the 6700 block of Mount Elbrus Way in the city’s Bear Creek District. The victim, who was not identified, was declared dead at the scene.