Arrest made in connection with Ballas murder

Kenneth Ma

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- Julie Thomas remembers serving cocktails to a woman

she described as “quiet and docile” on a cool autumn evening. Hours

later, the woman, 29-year-old Bridgette Elizabeth Ballas, was beaten,

raped and left unconscious on Huntington Street during the early morning

hours of Nov. 27, 1999. She died two days later.After the murder, “I was

more fearful, refusing to walk alone at night,” said Thomas, a waitress

at the Aloha Grill on Main Street. “I would always have a bartender or

other co-workers walk me home. [The murder] was huge to [Huntington Beach

residents] because this stuff doesn’t happen here.”

Last week, police arrested Victor Miranda-Guerrero, a 21-year-old

Huntington Beach resident, on suspicion of attacking five women Downtown

on May 26. While investigating that case, police said they discovered

evidence that may link him to the murder and rape of Ballas. The district

attorney’s office is expected to charge Miranda-Guerrero on June 16 with

her rape and murder.

If convicted on those charges, he could receive the death penalty,

officials said. Miranda-Guerrero is being held at Central Jail on

$250,000 bail.

For Thomas, the arrest has brought a sense of relief.

“My first thought was disbelief that [the police] finally found someone

because [the case] took so long,” Thomas said. “They didn’t have much to

go on.”

People who know Miranda-Guerrero say they are shocked the quiet,

seemingly nice young man could be accused of rape and murder.

“Victor was a good guy and a hard worker,” said Murat Coach, his former

boss at the Sunset Mediterranean Grill & Bar on Main Street. “I just

couldn’t believe that he was the one because we didn’t find anything

wrong with the guy. I guess you never know people’s private lives.”

Murat said Miranda-Guerrero, who quit working as a part-time cook and

dishwasher at the restaurant in February, earned the trust of his

co-workers, even walking waitresses to their cars at night. On some

occasions, Murat said, he and his fiancee would take turns giving

Miranda-Guerrero a ride home.

“We felt sorry for the kid sometimes. He did not have transportation,”

Murat said.

Steve Zeidan, a full-time cook and clerk at Coach’s Deli where

Miranda-Guerrero worked until his arrest, described his co-worker as a

quiet but hard working individual who was always punctual.

“I was very surprised, because he was the last guy you would suspect,” he

said.

Although the City Council recently offered $25,000 to supplement a $5,000

reward from the Carole Sund/Carrington Memorial Reward Foundation for

information leading to an arrest in the Ballas case, police had no

suspects on their list.

Their break came May 26, when police said Miranda-Guerrero tried to

attack five women in two separate incidents.

Huntington Beach Police Lt. Chuck Thomas said the first occurred at 12:30

a.m. at a Downtown parking structure, where Miranda-Guerrero tried

unsuccessfully to kidnap and rape four women. Fifteen minutes later,

Miranda-Guerrero tried to rape another woman who was walking in the area

of Walnut Avenue and 5th Street, several blocks from the spot Ballas was

killed.

The woman fought off his attack and ran for help at a police substation,

Thomas said. Moments later, Sgt. Tom Donnelly arrested Miranda-Guerrero

on Main Street. Victims of both attacks identified Miranda-Guerrero as

their assailant, Thomas said.

A search of Miranda-Guerrero’s home by detectives uncovered DNA evidence

that links him to the Ballas murder and also to a September 1999

kidnapping and carjacking, Thomas said.

In that incident, a woman jumped out of a moving car near Beach Boulevard

and Ellis Avenue to escape attack, police said. The attack began when he

allegedly approached the victim at the same Downtown parking lot.

Thomas said Miranda-Guerrero may be a suspect in other local attacks. The

Huntington Police Department asks that anyone with information call the

hotline at 375-5066.