3 Men Are Arrested in Adelanto Triple Slaying

San Bernardino County sheriff’s officials have arrested three men suspected of a triple homicide at an Adelanto apartment complex last week.

Ralphael Hernandez, 36, of Victorville, Robert Rubalcava, 20, of Chino and Jesse Ruiz, 30, of Whittier were booked into the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga on Monday night and held without bail, sheriff’s spokesman Chip Patterson said. The suspects are scheduled to be arraigned today in San Bernardino County Superior Court.

Sheriff’s investigators, acting on leads that emerged during an around-the-clock investigation since the Friday morning slayings, arrested Hernandez in a traffic stop in Rialto.

In a separate Rialto traffic stop, Rubalcava was arrested along with Christina Gamboa, 29, of Hesperia, who is suspected of hiding the three suspects. Ruiz was arrested at a Victorville motel, Patterson said.

The gun used in the killings was not found, authorities said.

“We’re not certain who had what specific role in the shootings,” Patterson said. “And we still have not established if the bullets came from one gun.”

Katie Espinoza, a 23-year-old mother of four, was found dead in her apartment garage along with her friend Dillon Keys, 19, of Adelanto. The third victim, Jerald Svec, 26, of Chino, died later Friday at a Victorville hospital.

Witnesses reported seeing a group of men speeding from the scene after the shootings in a car that was found Monday in Victorville by sheriff’s deputies.

Investigators allege that Hernandez, Rubalcava and Ruiz spent time at Espinoza’s apartment in the hours before the 1:27 a.m. shootings, Patterson said.

Although neighbors said Espinoza’s apartment was frequented by “suspicious characters” and was the scene of suspected drug activity, detectives now believe the dispute that preceded the shootings was personal and included an argument over money, not drugs.

“It wasn’t over anything that should have escalated to three murders,” said Patterson, who declined to reveal more specific details of the disagreement.

Espinoza’s children were in the apartment at the time of the shootings but were not injured.