Homeless Killer Suspect's Father Is Homeless

Itzcoatl Ocampo was a changed man after serving in Iraq, family says
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 17, 2012 4:56 AM CST
Homeless Killer Suspect Itzcoatl Ocampo's Father Is Homeless
Police say they are "extremely confident" that Ocampo, seen here in a booking photo, is responsible for all four recent killings of homeless men in Orange County.   (AP Photo/Anaheim Police Dept.)

Itzcoatl Ocampo, the California man accused of stabbing four homeless people to death, often gave money to the homeless, says his father, who is homeless himself. Refugio Ocampo, who lives in the cab of a broken-down truck, says that just a few months ago, his son gave a beggar his last $5. "I said, 'Why did you do that?'" his father tells the Los Angeles Times. "Itzcoatl just said, 'Don't you see people are starving?' "

The father, who lost his home in 2008, says his son visited him before the fourth killing and warned him to be careful. Family members say Ocampo, a former Marine, returned depressed from a tour of duty in Iraq and went downhill after the childhood friend he enlisted with was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2010. "He started saying things that didn't make sense," his father says. "He said terrible things are going to happen. The end of the world is coming. He started searching for hidden things that weren't there, like guns and knives." (More serial killers stories.)

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