A 34-year-old man awaiting trial in a murder case will be charged with the July 2020 killing of a man whose body was found inside a burned vehicle in Thermal, authorities said Tuesday.
Deputies responded at about 2 a.m. July 18, 2020, to a vehicle fire on Pierce Street near Airport Boulevard, according to Riverside County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ben Ramirez.
Ramirez said that after firefighters extinguished the blaze, the body of Luis Pinedo, 34, of Mecca, was found charred inside and homicide investigators were called to the scene.
Pinedo’s death was initially deemed suspicious by the sheriff’s department, which upgraded it to a homicide investigation July 20, 2020, after medical examiners discovered evidence of “homicidal violence,” Ramirez said.
The Riverside County coroner’s office was able to identify the body as that of Pinedo by using dental records, according to the department, which said the investigation remains ongoing.
At around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Ramirez said Ruben Esquivel of Coachella was identified as the suspect in Pineda’s death and will face new charges of murder, arson and the use of a gun during the commission of a felony.
Esquivel is currently awaiting trial in a separate murder case in which he’s accused in the Feb. 21, 2020, shooting of a 42-year-old man in Indio. He was arrested July 24, 2020, and remains held at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside on $1 million bail.
Esquivel has documented felony convictions in Riverside County that include attempted carjacking and parole violations, court records show.
Anyone with additional information about the homicide was urged to call sheriff’s Central Homicide Investigator Mendoza at 951-955-2777.