An Aug. 26 preliminary hearing has been set for an 18-year-old murder suspect who is accused of fatally stabbing a Chula Vista man who was his co-worker at a restaurant.
The April 23 slaying of Rene Macias Pressa, 44, was initially puzzling because he was found dead outside his home at 45 Third Ave. and there was a mile-long blood trail leading away from the body.
Deputy District Attorney Victor Ou said Chula Vista Police found the pants, wallet, shirt and shoes of Joe Andrew Cortez, 18, inside Pressa’s home. Ou told a judge that Cortez had spent the night at Pressa’s apartment, and stabbed him following a sexual encounter.
The prosecutor said Pressa engaged in oral sex with Cortez and, at some point, Cortez told him to stop. Cortez picked up a knife and stabbed Pressa twice in the chest, once to the abdomen and also at the base of the back of his head.
Cortez accidently cut one of his fingers during the assault, which resulted in the blood trail from the body. Surveillance camera footage showed Cortez leaving barefoot and wearing only a tank top with boxer shorts or tight shorts. He walked many miles to his parents’ home in Tijuana.
Chula Vista Police said in a release that Cortez walked surface streets from Chula Vista to San Ysidro from 1 to 4 a.m.
The U.S. Marshal’s fugitive apprehension team tried to arrest Cortez with the help of Mexican authorities, but he fled before they got there.
Cortez, a U.S. citizen, surrendered to authorities April 30 at the San Ysidro border crossing. He has pleaded not guilty and remains in the Vista Detention Facility on $2 million bail.
One of Pressa’s neighbors called police at 1 a.m. when they saw him outside his unit bleeding, but he died before he could be taken to a hospital. Cortez’s attorney could not be reached for comment.
Cortez pleaded not guilty May 1 in Chula Vista Superior Court and remains in the Vista Detention Facility on $2 million bail.
