Crime & Safety

Yucaipa Men Charged with Murder: Victim Found Dead in Mentone in Sept. 2012

Two Yucaipa men have been charged with killing another Yucaipa resident who was found dead in a Mentone field in September 2012, according to the Sheriff's Department.

The body of the deceased, Nicholas Acosta, 27, was reported the evening of Sept. 16 in the area of Newport Avenue east of Garnet Street and north of Mill Creek wash, a homicide sergeant told Redlands-Loma Linda Patch.

The area of Newport Avenue where Acosta was found is "past the orange groves," Sgt. John Gaffney of the sheriff's Homicide Detail said in September. "It's an area where people party and dump trash."

Investigators eventually identified Cruz Jose Beltran, 30, and Genaro Hernesto Sepulveda, 29, as suspects in the murder of Nicholas Acosta, sheriff's officials said in an update Wednesday July 10.

They were already in custody on unrelated charges. They were booked on suspicion of murder on Wednesday July 3.

Beltran and Sepulveda remained in custody July 10 at West Valley Detention, where they were each held on $1 million bail, according to sheriff's officials and inmate records.


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