Suspect accused of second murder, an unresolved 2022 Woodland Hills Home Break-in kill

Authorities say the man was seen strolling the man in the lobby of the Valley Village apartment building before allegedly killing a resident in April, linked to another brutal killing from 2022, where the body of an elderly woman was burned.

Erick Escamilla, 27, has been in custody since her arrest in May and has been charged with murder in Valley Village resident Menashe Hidra in his fifth-floor apartment. On Monday, Los Angeles County prosecutors revised Escamilla and added a second count of murder – the 2022 killing of Ok Ja Kim.

“I’ve been working in homicides for many years, even more than I have investigated violent crimes, and I can honestly say that throughout my career I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a meaningless and cruel murder,” Det. Sharon Kim told reporters in 2022.

According to police, OK Ja Kim, 81, was found on the bedroom floor of Martha Street in Woodland Hill, half hidden under her bed, “half bone, coma, no breathing.” Police said she was strangled and suffered “sharp and blunt injuries.” The home shows “widespread signs of arson”.

Escamilla stabbed a man about three weeks later, according to a criminal lawsuit filed by prosecutors on Monday. Details on how investigators linked Escamilla to crime are unclear.

“It’s the team’s effort,” said Lieutenant LAPD Lt. Guy Galon, who is in charge of the Valley Homicide Bureau. He said Det. Sharon Kim, who leads the Woodland Hills murder investigation, “never give up” in solving the killings.

At this stage, Gallon said they did not associate Escamilla with any other killings, but they provided his information and “to the broadest scourge of local law enforcement agencies to see if he might be involved in other crimes.”

Escamilla was also accused of violently killing a man in a valley village earlier this year.

Investigators said in late April, Escamilla allegedly broke into a nearby unit, jumped from the balcony to his fifth floor, found Menashe Hidra’s body in his apartment in the valley village on the fifth floor, and attacked him.

Three days ago, neighbors called 911 to report the yelling and the struggles of the apartment. The officer responded to the calls, knocked down the door and found nothing.

After friends began to pay attention, officials found Hidra’s body in his high-rise unit in the Ashton Sherman Village building. Sidra was pronounced dead at the scene.

During a recording of a police dispatch call before 4 a.m. on April 23, dispatchers were heard reporting the call to the officers on the scene: “van Nuys Unit, possible ADW [assault with a deadly weapon] In progress… The caller heard two males fighting, wrestling, pounding and yelling. ”

Several law enforcement sources said police responded to the scene but never entered the apartment.

The day before Sidra’s body was found, LAPD officials investigated the burglary in the vacant apartment next door. Internally, officers found broken skylights and dry blood, according to two sources who were not authorized to discuss the investigation.

Investigators suspect the killer may have broken into the vacant apartment near Hidra through the skylight and moved from the balcony of the unit to his. Chief Jim McDonnell said there was no sign of forced entry into Hidra’s apartment, and after the consequences, an internal investigation’s handling of the initial response was announced.

Escamilla, known as the “The Valley Village Killer” in videos of patrolmen and social media users, allegedly stalking him in the corridors of apartment buildings before and after he spread the media around the world.

McDonnell told reporters that Escamilla lived a life of uncertainty, walking back and forth between staying at his mother’s home in the West Valley and sleeping on the street. Police said he was sentenced to two years in jail for burglary in 2019.

The latest charges come after Escamilla faces misdemeanor charges in a February incident in the San Fernando Valley, including trespassing, entering a non-commercial home and resisting arrests, and receiving a free $10,000 bail. San Fernando police had previously arrested him in December.

Hidra’s family sued the owner of the apartment building, and the management of the complex made a cross-claim named LAPD.

McDonnell said he hopes officials in this situation speak to neighbors and gather more information before clearing the phone, saying that given the increase in so-called splurge calls, police cannot hurry into every home, a dangerous prank, a dangerous prank with false violence to provoke a large number of emergencies.

Menashe Hidra’s apartment in Valley Village was covered in blood.

(Richard Winton/Los Angeles Times)

Blood was killed on the door handle of a stairwell in the Valley Village apartment building.

(Richard Winton/Los Angeles Times)

Last week, bloody handprints and markers were visible on the walls between the Sidra balcony and the vacant apartment when journalists visited with residents. Blood was also seen on the door handle at the exit of the stairwell, and in a video released by the police, the attacker was seen fleeing the building.