LAKE HUGHES : Man, 39, Arrested in Fatal Shooting

A 39-year-old Lake Hughes man has been arrested on suspicion of killing a man whose skeletal remains were found in a Simi Valley ravine last month, Simi Valley police said Tuesday.

Luis Roberto Benavidez was arrested Friday as he left his home on a horse ranch in rural northern Los Angeles County, Police Lt. Bob Klamser said. Benavidez’s arrest capped a lengthy investigation during which detectives determined that the slaying followed a 1988 confrontation between Benavidez and the victim, who has not yet been identified, Klamser said.

Ventura County coroner’s investigators determined that the victim, described as a 25- to 40-year-old white or Latino male, died of gunshot wounds to the head on a ranch on Tierra Rejada Road, Klamser said. The ranch has since been razed to prepare for development, he said. The victim’s body, buried in a ravine in the foothills above the ranch, was discovered by a hiker Feb. 25 after heavy rains exposed parts of the skeleton, Klamser said.

Benavidez was held at the main Ventura County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail, Sheriff’s Sgt. Bob Larson said. The district attorney’s office will decide this week what charges, if any, will be filed, Klamser said.