SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — Mexican authorities arrested a man on suspicion of killing two San Diego retirees last summer, then dumping their bodies in a well in Baja California, it was reported Wednesday.
Ian Hirschsohn, a 78-year-old Solana Beach resident, and Kathy Harvey, a 73-year-old Tierrasanta resident, were stabbed to death, likely in late August, while asleep in bed at Hirschsohn's longtime vacation home in El Socorrito, a tiny beach town about 130 miles south of Ensenada, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
Their families reported the couple missing Sept. 2, and investigators discovered their bodies Sept. 5, according to the newspaper.
Investigators from the Baja California Attorney General's Office arrested the suspected killer last week. He was identified only by his first name and one initial, Emmanuel N., as is standard in Mexican criminal cases.
Hirschsohn's daughter told the newspaper that the suspect is a member of the family that owned the ranch where her father's vacation home was located.
She also told the U-T that her father had owned the home for about 35 years and knew the family that owned the ranch, including the alleged killer.
Around the time the bodies were found, prosecutors said they believed the killer was a drug addict and would-be burglar who broke into the home thinking it was empty, according to the U-T. The killer allegedly stabbed the victims inside the home, muscled their bodies into Hirschsohn's Toyota Land Cruiser and drove about four miles to the well to discard them.
Man arrested on suspicion of killing San Diego couple in Baja California
The retired couple frequently stayed in a vacation home south of San Quintin, Mexico.
