19-year-old Whittier kidnapping victim found dead in Moreno Valley; suspect arrested

Detectives have found the body of a 19-year-old Downey woman who was abducted in Whittier in Moreno Valley and arrested a suspect in her slaying.

Gabriel Esparza, 20, of Whittier, was taken into custody around 3 p.m. on Monday at his job in Lakewood, according to a police statement. He was booked on suspicion of murder and kidnapping. Police also seized a firearm they believe was used in the early Sunday morning crime, as well as Ezparza’s 2013 white Toyota Tacoma truck.

Police didn’t say how they identified Esparza as the suspect or why the two-day search for Andrea Vazquez happened “in large open land areas of Moreno Valley.”

Investigators said they found Vazquez’ body in a field off Alessandro Boulevard and Merwin Street in Moreno Valley Monday at 11:50 p.m.

Vazquez and a male companion were not targeted for a particular reason, with police calling the crime “a random act of violence by Esparza, who just happened to come upon them at Penn Park,” according to Officer Thomas Mattsson, spokesman for the Whittier Police Department.

There is no evidence of a robbery, he added. Investigators are not looking for other suspects, Mattsson said.

The shooting and kidnapping happened in a parking stall at Penn Park, 13950 Penn St. early Sunday, just after midnight. Vazquez and a 19-year-old man were sitting in a vehicle when an armed suspect approached their car and shot in their direction.

Vazquez’s companion ran. When returned, the man discovered blood near the vehicle and Vazquez was missing.

Police plan to present a case to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office on Wednesday.

Esparza was being held Tuesday at the Whittier Police jail without bail.