A murder trial continued this week for a Nestor man who is accused of fatally stabbing a Chula Vista resident whose friend saw the stabbing and scrawled the killer’s vehicle license plate in the dirt.
Hector Pablo Molina, 59, is charged with killing an acquaintance, David Craig, 55, who was living in a van at Main Street and Seventh Avenue near a strawberry field in Chula Vista.
The trial in Chula Vista Superior Court began Feb. 20 with opening statements about the June 3, 2013 slaying. Craig died from one stab wound to the heart. The victim’s friend did not have a cell phone and he hastily scrawled the license plate number in dirt around 3:30 p.m.
After talking to the victim’s friend, Chula Vista Police officers ran the license plate number and found the truck registered to Molina. It was parked in a South San Diego neighborhood and he was arrested the next day. Officers discovered the victim’s blood on Molina’s shoes along with blood on the steering wheel, according to testimony.
A bloody knife was found in a sheath in the vehicle and it is alleged to match the victim’s blood with DNA evidence, according to testimony in the Oct. 21 preliminary hearing.
Molina has pleaded not guilty and he remains in the central jail downtown without bail.
