Marine is Suspected of Killing Four

Serial killer suspect is Itzcoatl "Izzy" Ocampo, Iraq vet

Officials say a former Marine who showed compassion for the homeless is the main suspect in the gruesome killings of four of Orange County’s homeless men aging from 42 to 64.

Itzcoatl "Izzy" Ocampo, an Iraq war veteran is being held at Orange County jail on psychological watch.

Reports the Los Angeles Times:

But if authorities are correct, Ocampo's apparent kinship for the downtrodden somehow curdled into something more sinister, leaving four homeless men dead in Orange County since late December

Ocampo, who is being held on a psychological watch at the Orange County jail in Santa Ana, is accused in the stabbing deaths of James Patrick McGillivray, 53, who was killed in Placentia on Dec. 20; Lloyd Middaugh, 42, was found in Anaheim on Dec. 28; Paulus Smit, 57, in Yorba Linda on Dec. 30; and John Berry, 64, in Anaheim on Jan. 13.

Ocampo’s family said that the 9/11 attacks are what prompted him to join the military. But not long after he was done with active duty, his life began to descend into a dark hole of depressive and manic behavior.

Ocampo’s father, Refugio Ocampo, 49, said that he has not been allowed to see his son.

“A few months ago, when his destitute family was stranded in Bakersfield and desperate for gas money, he gave a beggar the last $5 in his pocket. ‘I said, 'Why did you do that?' his father recalled. "Itzcoatl just said, 'Don't you see people are starving?' "

The Times report said that each of Ocampo’s victims suffered at least 40 stab wounds. He was arrested Friday when two men chased him down after the last killing of Berry, 64.

Many Marines, including Ocampo, do not get the mental help they need to readjust to their lives after the trauma of war.

"He came back totally changed," Robert Hays, a fellow Marine said. "It was almost like he didn't care anymore. He'd get fidgety, he'd start shaking, spacing out. You'd see him staring off."