Man’s body found in Costa Mesa after report of hammer attack; suspect identified

Police investigating a possible homicide Wednesday morning in Costa Mesa have arrested a suspect, authorities said.

Police responded to a report of a man assaulting another man with a hammer at about 8:45 a.m. in a parking area next to the Monticello condominium complex on Vanguard Way, across from Vanguard University, Costa Mesa police Lt. Paul Beckman said.

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The first officer to arrive found a man’s body on the ground and another man standing nearby, Beckman said.

The latter man began to flee, but the officer subdued him with a Taser after a short chase, Beckman said. The man was arrested and taken to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries.

Officers found a weapon in a nearby vehicle that might have been used in the assault, Beckman said.

A tow truck operator removes a vehicle, with a blood-stained window, after an occupant of the vehicle was found dead in the 2300 block of Vanguard Way in Costa Mesa Wednesday morning.

(Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

The suspect, Ivan Chernev Dimov, a Costa Mesa resident in his 50s, was booked into jail with bail set at $1 million.

The victim was identifed Thursday as Kyle Boyd Avila, 53, of Costa Mesa, the Orange County coroner’s office said.

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FOR THE RECORD
An earlier version of this article stated that Kyle Avila was from Santa Ana. He resided in Costa Mesa.

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A motive for the attack and any relationship between the two men were not immediately known, Beckman said.

Investigators closed Vanguard Way for hours between Fair Drive and Newport Boulevard.

Christine Sta. Ana said she was at her window at home when she heard yelling coming from the parking area.

“I saw a man swinging a tool into a car from outside of it,” she said. “I thought he was trying to break a window at first.”

Sta. Ana said she called police when she saw the man removing what looked like “a bloody body” from the car.

Residents said they were rattled by the possible homicide.

“There’s a lot of crime, but you don’t hear about stuff like this in Costa Mesa,” said Ahna Glenn, a 23-year resident of the neighborhood.

“I have never seen anything like this before,” said Victor Kinnui, a two-year neighborhood resident. “You live in a nice neighborhood and you don’t expect things like this to happen. It’s scary.”

benjamin.brazil@latimes.com

Twitter: @benbrazilpilot