Suspect arrested in Iowa for murder of Long Beach couple

Long Beach police and the U.S. Marshals Service teamed up to arrest a man in Iowa on suspicion of killing a Long Beach couple near their home, police said Saturday.

Joshua Wells, a 29-year-old Long Beach resident, was arrested Thursday near a family member's residence in Windsor Heights, Iowa, and was booked for the Sept. 4 murders of Maricela Honorato and Juan Guizar-Gutierrez.

The U.S. Marshals Southern District of Iowa Fugitive Task Force and Long Beach Police Department homicide detectives coordinated the arrest, after detectives presented their case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office on Tuesday resulting in an arrest warrant for two counts of murder.

Two search warrants were served Thursday, one in the 900 block of Loma Vista Drive in Long Beach and one in the 8100 block of Harbach Boulevard in Clive, Iowa. Both resulted in the discovery of evidence which linked Wells to the crimes, police said.

Wells was being held on $6 million bail, and will be extradited to Long Beach.

LBPD Chief Robert Luna said the shooting may have been related to an earlier altercation on Sept. 4. He said detectives believe the victims did not know the suspect prior to the shooting.

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Police said there is no evidence that the crime stemmed from a potential road rage incident, but detectives will not rule out the possibility.

The shooting occurred at 7:50 p.m. in the 900 block of Park Circle, across from Drake Park, Long Beach police spokeswoman Arantxa Chavarria told City News Service.

Guizar-Gutierrez was pronounced dead at the scene and paramedics rushed Honorato to an area hospital, where she later died from her injuries.

Anyone with information about the shooting was urged to contact Homicide Detectives Ethan Shear, Jose Rodriguez or Michael Hutchinson at 562- 570-7244, or Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477.

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