An Anaheim man was convicted last week of special circumstances murder for robbing a 67-year-old man of his wallet and then repeatedly stabbing the fellow until he died on the Fourth of July, 2012.
Felipe Jesus Delgado, 22, could be sentenced to life in state prison without the possibility of parole at a Santa Ana hearing scheduled for Jan. 31.
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Daniel Rowlett, 2012 OC Homicide No. 23: Found Stabbed in Truck
Daniel Rowlett was outside an Olive Street business in Anaheim the night of July 4, 2012, when Delgado popped out to rob the victim of his wallet and then stab him more than a dozen times in the legs and chest.
Delgado took off on foot, and at about 10:45 p.m. the Anaheim Police Department got a call about a possible traffic accident. Rowlett was found by officers bleeding in the driver's seat of his truck and was transported to a nearby hospital, where he died.
Remember the bit about Delgado darting off on foot? Genius left a trail of blood that led from the crime scene to his home on Julianna Street in Anaheim, where Anaheim cops confronted him. He was wearing bloody socks, had bloody clothes on the bedroom floor, and had a fresh cut on his hand.
The kicker: He still had the late Mr. Rowlett's wallet, and a folding knife that proved to be the murder weapon was found between the mattress and box spring of Delgado's bed. Cops then discovered there was a warrant out for Delgado's arrest for attempted murder in Santa Cruz County.
The jury last week found him guilty of special circumstances murder because the killing came during the commission of a robbery, which earned Delgado another felony count.
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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.