[UPDATED with Mistrial:] Oscar Robles Diaz Accused of Murdering Leon Abarca Torres

Navel Gazing began tracking every murder (we know of) in Orange County on June 2, 2009. At that time, the roundup was called “Just Another Orange County Murder,” but we now assign a number to each homicide victim.

Our first victim was Leon Abarca Torres, a 47-year-old who was stabbed multiple times after drinking beers and arguing with roommates in the very early morning hours of
Thursday, May 28, 2009, outside the Santa Ana residence they shared. This week, a mistrial was declared in the first-degree murder trial of Torres' alleged killer, Oscar Robles Diaz (pictured).
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The 26-year-old now faces retrial later this year.

He fled on a bus after the stabbing but was arrested the next day
at his workplace, Maggiano's restaurant in Costa Mesa. Prosecutors claim the stabbing was related to an earlier argument, but the defense maintains it was self-defense.

ORIGINAL POST, JUNE 2, 2009, 11:59 A.M.: Today on Navel Gazing we begin reports on local murders, which we'll
update with more details as they become available. Readers, witnesses
and our friendly neighborhood men and women in blue are also invited to
provide any insights in the comments section or by emailing the writer
of the particular item, in confidence if that's what you prefer.

Up first is the murder of 47-year-old Leon Abarca Torres of Santa Ana.

Torres, Oscar Robles Diaz and Faustino Ramirez Diaz
were apparently drinking beers in the very early morning hours of
Thursday, May 28, outside a residence they all used to share in the 1300
block of South Pacific Avenue, near Wilshire Avenue, in Santa Ana.
Police called to the scene at 2:20 a.m. say an argument broke out,
Oscar Diaz stabbed Torres “multiple times all over his body” and Faustino Diaz
assisted in the attack.

Torres later died at a nearby hospital
while the alleged attackers managed to flee before the cops arrived.
Both were apprehended at Oscar Diaz's workplace in Costa Mesa eight hours
after the initial police call and arrested on suspicion of homicide.

Matt Coker

OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.