California murder suspects nabbed in LV

Monday, March 9, 1998 | 10:08 a.m.

A series of tips led police to a couple staying in a Las Vegas hotel who are suspected of having played a role in the slaying of a 17-year-old boy and the rape and shooting of his 16-year-old girlfriend.

Michael Martinez, 21, and Florence Noriega, 28, both of Norwalk, Calif., were arrested at the Ambassador Hotel in downtown Las Vegas about 11 p.m. Saturday by Las Vegas police and FBI agents, authorities said.

The suspects had a 9 mm handgun and a sawed-off rifle in their room, police said.

"It was pretty hairy," Metro Police Sgt. Al Cervantes said. "We had to force entry into the room and we thought we might have some armed resistance, but we ended up catching them by surprise."

They were booked into the Clark County Detention center and were awaiting extradition to California.

"We found (the suspects) based primarily on tips coming out of California, combined with some follow-up investigation conducted by our detectives," Cervantes said, adding that local officers had spotted the pair driving a stolen 1978 Chevrolet El Camino.

Investigators will try to extradite the two but it wasn't known when they might arrive in Los Angeles County.

Detectives were also looking for a third person in connection with the murder and were trying to obtain an arrest warrant, police said.

Chad MacDonald's body was found Tuesday in south Los Angeles. The Yorba Linda teen had been strangled. His girlfriend was raped, shot in the face and left for dead in a drainage pipe in the Angeles National Forest.

The teens were held hostage in Norwalk for two days, authorities said.