DA: Homeless Killings Suspect Stalked Victims

An Iraq War veteran accused of killing four homeless men in suburban Los Angeles was described as "a monster" by prosecutors who charged him Tuesday.

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas told reporters that along with the murder counts Itzcoatl "Izzy" Ocampo, 23, of Yorba Linda, was also charged with special circumstances of committing multiple murders and lying in wait, which could mean a death sentence if he is convicted.

"He's a monster," The Orange County Register quoted Rackauckas as saying. "This 23-year-old man was a vicious killer. He had it is his mind to kill people, and he followed through with that intent.

"We will be proving that the defendant planned the murders in advance, stalked his victims looking for the right opportunity to execute them."

Rackauckas said Ocampo was caught before he had finished killing everyone he had targeted.

The Los Angeles Times reported Ocampo is accused of killing the men in separate incidents beginning last month in which each victim was stabbed at least 40 times. His arrest came the same day as the most recent killing, Friday, outside a fast-food restaurant in Anaheim.

His friends and family describe Ocampo as a person whose father is homeless and who had a longstanding empathy for the poor and homeless, but returned from Iraq in 2010 a changed man. After serving with the Marines' 1st Medical Battalion and the assignment of meeting and inspecting the combat-injured, he was unable to find work. His younger brother said Ocampo had hallucinations about bombs in closets and spoke of the end of the world.

Bonnie Tisdale, who was Ocampo's supervisor at Camp Pendleton after his return from Iraq, said: "He's a veteran who did not get the help he needed. It's just traumatizing over there. If you already have any underlying issues before the military, it just heightens it."