Murder Suspect Arrested after Pursuit

Pomona - A traffic stop resulted in the arrest of a Pomona man wanted on suspicion of murder, who was being investigated today in connection with two other deaths, law enforcement sources said.

Robert Louis Caballero, 32, was chased by Pomona police while driving a silver Dodge Charger near Holt Avenue and Reservoir Street around 1 a.m. Saturday, according to a statement from Pomona police Lt. Joann Guzek.

The chase led from Pomona into Montclair, where the car crashed and Caballero was caught while trying to run away, she said.

It turned out that Caballero was wanted on a warrant in the Sept. 29 murder of 25-year-old Armando Vidana of Pomona, Guzek said.

Vidana, a known gang member, was wounded in a drive-by shooting about 7:50 p.m. Feb. 23 in the area of the 1000 block of West Holt Avenue near Fillmore Place in Pomona. He survived, but was fatally shot around 3:20 a.m. Sept. 29 in the 600 block of Illinois Street, near Holt Avenue. At the time, police said the shooting appeared to be gang-related.

A law enforcement source told City News Service that sometime after Caballero was detained, Pomona police called the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department with information about a woman's body that investigators found about 4 p.m. Saturday in the Angeles National Forest along Mount Baldy Road, near mile marker 1.34.

"It may have been buried," coroner's investigator Jerry McKibben said.

The body was identified as Lorraine Minjarez, 32, of Covina, said coroner's Lt. Larry Dietz.

The cause of death was still under investigation, Dietz said.

The source confirmed that authorities are investigating whether Caballero is connected to the woman's death.

Another law enforcement source told City News that Caballero is also under investigation in the death of David Arthur Padilla Jr., 29, of El Monte, whose body was found about 1 p.m. Saturday on the Union Pacific railroad tracks near Walnut Avenue in Chino.

Padilla's body was found on the tracks under a freeway overpass with trauma to his upper body, the coroner's Web site reported.

Caballero was jailed on a no-bail warrant and is scheduled to appear Tuesday in Pomona Superior Court.