Nick Cubas, 19

Aug. 31, 2016

Nick Cubas, a 19-year-old Latino, was pronounced dead of gunshot wounds Thursday, Aug. 4, according to Los Angeles County coroner’s records. His body was found near the 7400 block of East Willow Street in Long Beach.

At about 6:30 a.m., Long Beach police received a call about a dead body, later identified as that of Cubas, near the San Gabriel River.

On the day Cubas' body was found, police arrested Rueben Alexander Ortega, 19, on suspicion of murder. Two weeks later, Edgar Miguel Espinoza, 18, was also arrested.

Ortega and Espinoza were charged with murder and other felonies: two counts of kidnapping as well as one count each of carjacking, robbery, and shooting at an inhabited dwelling.

Adriana Rodriguez, 19, and Jeremy Rincon,19, were also arrested and charged with accessory after the fact.

On Oct. 17, Ortega will be in court for a preliminary hearing. Espinoza is scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 14.

Contact the Homicide Report. Follow @jeromercampbell and @latimeshomicide on Twitter.

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Five reader comments

Today is April 18, 2017
Yesterday was my sweet little son's birthday, I would turned 20.
Eight months have passed and nothing has happened yet, justice is not done to the criminals who killed my son. As there is a court on April 23 and hopefully they will not postpone the date again.
I hope they will be given life imprisonment or the death penalty, because the killed without mercy.
AS YOU KILL IN COLD BLOOD, YOU DESERVE TO DIE,
Since my son died my life totally changed, I had to sold all my things and returned the house I rented, I lived for my son, now my life walks aimlessly, I can no stabilize, only lived in our home him and me, he was my whole life.
They took away what I loved most in this life, my hopes and his dreams, he wanted to be an Businessman, that's why he studied International Business Administration at College Cypress and he always told me that he was going to help and support me. But it was only in dreams not made by the guilt of these assassins.
I ask justice to look at the records since my son was a boy, always with honors in school, since childhood he was very dear to society, friends, family friend's, family, my friends, etc....
If you want to look around out of the life of my son, what he did and made, can contact to me.

— Patricia Sarmiento April 18, 2017 at 9:52 p.m.

The Homicide Report

Nick Cubas, 19

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Five reader comments