*BREAKING NEWS* Former Mt SAC student arrested in connection with murder

In this police booking photo released by the Ontario Police Dept. on Thursday June 2, 2011 showing Daniel Ortiz, 25, who was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of helping his mother Carmen Montenegro, who was charged on Tuesday June 1,2011 with murder. (AP Photo/Ontario Police Department)

[Updated 6/4/2011 2:35 p.m.]

Former Mountaineer Editor in Chief, Daniel Ortiz, 25, along with his sister, Chanel Ortiz, 26, was arrested Wednesday in connection with the murder of Samuel Wiggins Jr. Their mother, Carmen Montenegro, 51, was arrested Sunday and charged with murder on Tuesday, according to KABC7. Wiggins, 63, of Diamond Bar was reported missing by his family May 1 to the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Dept.

According to msnbc.com, Montenegro was taken into custody after she was seen moving a trash can full of dismembered body parts. Montenegro pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a first degree murder charge, and is currently being held on $1 million bail.
Daniel Ortiz, also the former president of Students in Solidarity for Immigrant Rights, a club on campus, last attended Mt. SAC in 2009. All three remained in jail today.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Ortiz allegedly dropped off two planters containing body parts to a rental property in the 6700 block of Foster Ridge Rd, in Bell Gardens, on Mother’s Day. One of the pots contained Wiggins head, and the other contained his arms. Investigators believe that the alleged murder occurred at Wiggins’ home, and all of the remains have since been recovered. An autopsy is pending to determine the cause of death. Investigators say the motive may have been financial, because according to a relative of Wiggins, his money market accounts were recently emptied.

Wiggins was Carmen Montelongo’s (originally addressed by her alias, Montenegro in earlier reports) former boyfriend.

The San Bernadino County district attorney’s office said that Carmen Montenegro may have acted for financial gain in the killing of Wiggins. Montenegro also told police that she was being sexually abused by Wiggins. According to npr.org, “An autopsy performed Thursday on Wiggins’ remains determined he likely died from multiple stab wounds, Deputy District Attorney Erica Gallegos told The Sun of San Bernardino.”

In an interview with the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Matthew Bell, Montelongo’s cousin, was allegedly offered $5,000 to help dispose of the body. According to Bell, Montelongo arrived at his residence Sunday with two men who were possibly day laborers, and offered Bell, his girlfriend and brother $100 to leave the house. According to the Daily Bulletin, though Montelongo did not pay them, Bell an his companions left the residence. They did not go far before returning though, “I just had a bad feeling,” Bell said. “She’s played our family so many times in the past.”

Upon their returning, Bell said they discovered Montelongo and one of the laborers in the backyard with shovels. When the laborer say the three, he and the other man left in a red Toyota pickup. According to Bell, this is the point where she panicked. Montelongo allegedly offered Bell $5,000 to help, and according to Bell, he was tempted enough to put on gloves Montelongo allegedly handed him.

According to the Daily Bulletin, Bell remembers, “seeing a white trash bag that contained several body parts, including a leg that was severed at the mid section of the thigh.” Bell said after vomiting several times, he decided to leave with his companions and call the police.

Bell said that Montelongo followed the group down the street asking for help, saying “Help me hide him.”

Prosecutors announced Friday that Montelongo’s two adult children will not be charged and could be released as early as Friday evening. Several Mt. SAC students who knew Daniel Ortiz have mixed reactions to Ortiz’s arrest in connection with the murder.

Josue Velasquez, 23, anthropology major, knew Ortiz through the on campus clubs, Global Resistance Network, and Improving Dreams, Equality, Access, and Success. “I actually met him through friends, we were highly involved in the immigration movement so all of my friends were actually part of IDEAS, the other club he was involved in, GRN, so a lot of friends where going back and forth between clubs, so that’s how I knew him.” Velasquez added that Ortiz’s arrest has put a hold on what might have been a great career in social activism.

Former Editor-In-Chief, Ariel Carmona, said Ortiz was a staff writer when he knew him. “Before he came on staff he was really very active [in] political organizations on campus,” said Carmona. “I remember he was a member of GRN.” Carmona said the news of Ortiz’s arrest came as a shock since the young man on the news did not seem like the writer he knew.

“I was really surprised because he was very low key, kind of a reserved person, very soft spoken, not very animated as I remember,” said Carmona. “The only time he became very animated or agitated was when he was participating in some kind of action.” Carmona added that Ortiz is, “very intelligent, very outspoken, and quite articulate.”

Journalism professor and adviser of the Mountaineer Toni Albertson, remembered Ortiz. “He was named Editor-In-Chief the first semester that I began my tenure at Mt. SAC,” Albertson said “He was a very passionate indiviual with strong beliefs but nothing would make me suspect he would be capable of a crime like this one.”

Prosecutors announced Friday that there is insufficient evidence to file criminal charges against Montelongo’s two adult children. According to John Kochis, a San Bernardino County chief deputy district attorney, Daniel Ortiz and Chanel Ortiz were released Friday from West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga.

Susan Mickey, a spokeswoman for the district attorney, said if police uncover more evidence of the siblings alleged involvement, charges could possibly be filed against the two.

-Albert Serna, News Editor
-Mimi Lupercio, Staff Writer
-Sabina Gallier. Features Editor