Valley Village slaying suspect turned over to U.S. authorities [Updated]

A 34-year-old ex-convict charged with fatally stabbing a Valley Village woman and burning her home was turned over Tuesday night to Los Angeles police by Mexican authorities.

Omar Armando Loera was arrested in Mexicali outside a home without incident by Mexican authorities who had been working with the U.S. Marshals Service and the Los Angeles Police Department, law enforcement sources said. Loera allegedly fled to Mexico after the July slaying.

[Updated at 10:38 p.m: Loera was expected to be interviewed within several hours by homicide detectives in North Hollywood and then will be booked into the Van Nuys jail, the LAPD said.]

Loera was handed over to U.S. authorities at the border crossing in Calexico and could be arraigned as early as Wednesday morning, the sources said.

He was charged last month in absentia with one count each of murder, burglary, arson and assault with a deadly weapon in the July 24 slaying of Cheree Osmanhodzic, 34, just two months before her wedding.

Prosecutors also charged the parolee with the special circumstances of murder during a burglary and arson, which could make him eligible for the death penalty.

-- Andrew Blankstein and Robert J. Lopez

Comments

[Judy]

Did we have to promise no death penalty to get this slime back?

[CC]

@ Judy... I thought about that (or what deal he was offered so he could come back here). Not only that, we get to pay for his health and well being while he is here by supplying food and medical care in jail!

[JpRAustin]

I have a suggestion....send him to Texas.
We know how to deal with scum like Loera.