HOLLISTER
A 28-year-old Hollister man was stabbed to death Monday night outside his garage on a quiet C Street cul-de-sac, and police had a suspect in custody within hours.
Alejandro Hurtado’s death is the fifth homicide this year in San Benito County, one short of the total in 2001, the highest in at least the past 12 years, according to the FBI.
Hurtado was pronounced dead at 1 a.m. Tuesday, about an hour after he was stabbed once in the chest in the 800 block of C Street, the Hollister Police Department reported.
Jose Arnulfo Covian, 22, was arrested Tuesday at his Homestead Avenue residence after two witnesses gave investigators a description of a lone man, police said.
“According to the witnesses, there was only one assailant,” Detective Sgt. Carlos Reynoso said at the scene early Tuesday morning.
It was also the second homicide connected to C Street this year. In June, Christella Macias, 20, was found dead at the end of a section that runs from Line Street west toward the San Benito River.
Hurtado was stabbed at the end of a C Street segment that runs between Powell Street and Homestead Avenue.
Craig Cuthbertson has lived on the peaceful cul-de-sac with his wife and three children since 1996. He said most homes on that end of C Street house young families and he was disturbed to here of another death on C Street.
“This has been a nice area,” Cuthbertson said. “Now, obviously, it’s gone to hell.”
Police Capt. Bob Brooks said he doesn’t expect anymore arrests related to Hurtado’s death.
Brooks said Covian and Hurtado most likely knew each other before the stabbing, as the suspect lived around the corner from the victim.
The captain said he could not discuss what the altercation was about, but said it doesn’t appear to be gang related. Brooks also said he could not say what evidence was collected at the scene, other than that a knife had been confiscated.
Reynoso said the department investigated two scenes – one on C Street, where the crime occurred, and another at Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital.
On the sidewalk in front of Hurtado’s residence, officers had marked a Budweiser beer bottle as evidence. At the opening of the garage, there was trash strewn about and two shoes on the driveway.
Officers waited outside Covian’s residence Tuesday morning while a judge signed a search warrant. Covian was held at the police department on Apollo Way while the officers awaited the warrant, but was not interviewed, Brooks said.
Covian was booked into the San Benito County Jail at 9:16 a.m. and is being held there on a murder charge in lieu of $1 million in bail, according to jail personnel.
Investigators were expected to interview the suspect Tuesday afternoon.
Prosecutors must arraign him on charges before 5 p.m. today, or else he could be released from jail.
In August, Covian was convicted of misdemeanor assault with a deadly weapon, according to San Benito County Superior Court documents.
Tuesday’s homicide is the latest in a surge of violent crimes in 2007. There were three shootings over the weekend, including one under investigation as an attempted murder.
There have been four homicides in the city this year – and another in the San Benito County Sheriff’s Office jurisdiction – along with six attempted murders and 20 drive-by shootings, according to police records.
Three of the five homicides in the county remain unsolved – two are being investigated by the police department and the other by the sheriff’s office.
Homicides in San Benito County
Year Homicides
*2007 5
2006 2
2005 1
2004 0
2003 2
2002 1
2001 6
2000 3
*Denotes as of Tuesday
Source: FBI Web site
