More than eight months after a man and a woman were found dead in a Chula Vista apartment, an Ohio man has been arrested on suspicion of murder in connection with the case, authorities said Thursday.
Steven Cleveland is suspected in the deaths of Abdul Hasan, 57, and Paz Gojar, 57, who were found dead Feb. 21 in their apartment on Paseo Carina, not far from the Chula Vista Elite Athletic Training Center.
Cleveland, 43, has been in custody since April, picked up in Tennessee on unrelated charges, Chula Vista police said in a news release. He was later sent to Ohio; jail records indicate he has been in custody there since June.
An arrest warrant for Cleveland in the Chula Vista case was issued in late October for charges including murder and auto theft, police said. He is awaiting extradition to San Diego County.
According to a Chula Vista police spokesperson, investigators believe Cleveland had befriended the victims at some point. Police suspect the attack happened Jan. 29, and that the assailant stabbed Hasan first, then turned a knife on Gojar.
About three weeks later, on Feb. 21, a neighbor called Chula Vista police to report concerns about a neighboring unit — including not having seen either Hasan or Gojar in weeks. Police entered their home about 2:30 p.m. that day and found them dead.
The case was quickly upgraded to a homicide investigation. It was not initially clear how they had died, but an autopsy revealed they had been stabbed, police said Thursday.
The investigation led police to identify Cleveland as a “person of interest” in the case, although police did not say why. Detectives learned he had headed to Kentucky shortly after the deaths in late January.
Two months later, on April 3, Cleveland was found and arrested in Knoxville, Tenn., on an unrelated warrant, according to Chula Vista police. They said that while Cleveland remained jailed, the homicide investigation continued for several months and involved “extensive collaboration among regional and out-of-state law enforcement agencies.”
Cleveland is currently in custody in Tri-County Regional Jail in Ohio. Jail records indicate he was arrested on suspicion of rape and sexual battery. There is also a hold placed for San Diego County.