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Update as of April 19, 2016: the victim's name has been released (Julio Caesar Edeza) and a suspect has been apprehended. Read more here.
By Miriam Raftery
April 18, 2016 (San Diego) – San Diego Police are searching for a suspect who set a homeless man on fire at 11:45 a.m. Sunday in a parking lot outside a CVS store near the Rite Aid on Euclid Ave just north of highway 94.
The suspect asked for water, then lured the victim into his vehicle, a black Toyota 2-door pickup with a camper shell, then threw chemicals on him and set him afire, watching with chilling calm as the man suffered burns so severe that authorities indicate he is not expected to survive.
The suspect is described as a Hispanic man age 30-40, 6 feet tall and weighing about 170 pounds. He wore a red hat, red shirt, and black pants. Authorities have released a sketch of the suspect showing a beard and mustache.
A witness and friend of the victim, Misti Cardenas, told 10News that she tried to help her friend but the flames were too hot. She said her friend was screaming and trying to pull off his clothes while the suspect remained eerily calm, “watching him burn.”
She believes the man “either hurt somebody before or he’s going to do it again, because there was nothing there, no emotion.”
Another friend, Tiffany Rogness, told KNSD that the victim was a kind person who would “give the shirt off his back. He’d do anything he could for you.”
The victim’s name has not been released by authorities. He was transported to UCSD Medical Center with life-threatening burns to his chest, face, and head.
If you have any information on this horrific crime, please contact San Diego Police at 619-531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.
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