Slaying Suspect Arrested in Minnesota

For more than two years, authorities say, Gregory Lee Hines evaded Ventura County sheriff’s detectives who trailed him to Washington and Montana in connection with the shotgun killing of a 17-year-old Oxnard student.

On Monday, life on the run ended abruptly for the 20-year-old former Oxnard resident when he was arrested in Minneapolis by homicide investigators after a lead just received by Ventura authorities.

“He was very surprised,” said Ventura County Sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Mike Barnes.

Hines was originally arrested along with his older brother, Alexander Hines, in the July, 1988, slaying of Jorge Rosales, who was found dead from close-range shotgun blasts to the face in a field at Ventura Boulevard and Central Avenue in Camarillo.

Authorities at the time did not have enough evidence to try the two brothers, who were released, Barnes said. Two weeks after a farm worker discovered Rosales’ body hidden beneath a piece of carpet, a murder warrant was issued for Gregory Hines, but he had already fled the area, Barnes said.

Since that time, sheriff’s deputies received leads indicating that Hines was living in Spokane, Wash., last November, and in Missoula, Mont., earlier this year. But the suspect knew that he was being pursued and fled both cities by the time investigators tracked down his residences, Barnes said.

Sheriff’s detectives got the latest tip on Hines’ whereabouts early Monday, Barnes said.

Rosales, who was entering his senior year at Oxnard High School, was last seen July 16 leaving a party at Hines’ house that ended in a brawl. At the time of his initial arrest, Gregory Hines told detectives that he saw Rosales leave the party in a car after the fight broke out.

Barnes would not disclose the alleged motive for the killing. But Hines’ mother, Beatrix Haynes, was struck by a beer bottle thrown in the midst of the fight and later lost her eye.

Barnes said Hines was charged under a juvenile warrant but may be tried as an adult. An investigation into his brother’s possible involvement is continuing, Barnes said. Alexander Hines is serving an 18-year term after his arrest last December in Woodland, Calif. He was convicted of sexual assault, Barnes said.

Gregory Hines was booked into a county jail, where he is being held pending extradition to Ventura County, Barnes said.