Suspect arrested in fatal stabbing of 68-year-old man in Martinez

MARTINEZ, Calif. - Police on Friday night arrested a suspect in connection to a fatal stabbing that left a man dead, Martinez Chief of Police Andrew White announced Friday evening.

The attack

What we know:

Surveillance video captured the frantic screams of a 68-year-old man who was fatally stabbed Thursday afternoon outside his home in Martinez.

The footage from a neighbor's surveillance camera shows the victim, identified as Todd Stewart, tussling with an unidentified assailant. Stewart, who was wearing a blue shirt, can be heard screaming in pain as the suspect, wearing a dark vest, stabs him several times on his front lawn.

The Martinez Police Department received multiple 911 calls around 5:09 p.m. reporting a stabbing in front of a home on Francis Court. Officers arrived to find Stewart, who died at the scene.

Search for the suspect

The suspect fled in a Cadillac SUV. Photos showed him wearing dark-colored jeans, a gray shirt, and a protective vest.

On Friday evening, the Martinez Police Department announced that Marcos Iriarte-Valdez, 36, was taken into custody at his home in Martinez in connection with the fatal stabbing.

"I think people can sleep a little bit safer tonight knowing that this person is in custody," White said. "Unfortunately, too, there's a family that no longer has a husband, a father."

Martinez police said Iriarte-Valdez was on pre-trial released for several residential burglaries in Orinda and was taken into custody on Tuesday for allegedly violating the conditions of his home detention, but was released the next day.

White said investigators are working to determine a motive for the attack and whether Stewart and the suspect knew each other.

Community grieves

What they're saying:

Neighbors described Stewart as a warm, funny, and generous man who was married with two daughters. He had lived in the neighborhood for more than 30 years and had recently finished renovations on his home.

"He was the most mild-mannered person and the most helpful in the court," said Stewart's friend. "It's still unbelievable. I look across the street, and I expect him to come out and wave."

Residents said they were shocked by the violence and said that such a crime is unheard of in their quiet, tucked-away cul-de-sac.

"I always call it our little cocoon because usually, nothing ever happens," said the victim's neighbor, Jackie. She wished to withhold her last name.

Residents said the suspect pulled up and waited in his vehicle for a bit before exiting and repeatedly stabbing Stewart, even after the victim was on the ground.

"I haven't digested the fact that he's not here anymore yet," said Jim. 

"I’m still processing because I still expect to see him over the fence, it’s nowhere as bad as his family, because they lost their father, his wife lost her husband, they finally were spending more time together because they were retired, they were traveling," said neighbor Galina Pasternak.

Pasternak said Stewart's widow noticed the suspect's car outside their home before the stabbing.

"She saw him sitting in a car, and she thought, like maybe he’s visiting. Visiting, maybe he'd been waiting, and she saw him there like some time before, hour before. So he’s been there for a while," said Pasternak.

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