When San Diego police detectives wrapped it up, they had a case of a robbery victim who turned into a murder suspect.
It started when Charlie Cibrian, 26, was robbed at gunpoint by two men in Southcrest in the early morning hours of July 9.
Cibrian and two companions quickly went looking for the robbers, cruising streets and combing structures along Acacia Street while the trail was still hot, a police investigation later revealed.
In the backyard of a residence in the 3700 block, near Woden Street, Cibrian came face to face with one of the men believed had robbed him of money and possessions.
“That's when the tables turned,” said San Diego police homicide Lt. Kevin Rooney.
During a confrontation in the yard at about 2 a.m., Tommy Jones, 22, was stabbed in the chest and collapsed after staggering about half a block. His assailant fled. Jones later developed complications during a hospital stay, and he died Oct. 24.
Yesterday at about 6:15 a.m., police went to a residence on West Street near Logan Avenue in Lincoln Park. They arrested Cibrian, the robbery victim, on suspicion of killing Jones.
The investigation that led to the arrest took some twists and turns.
Officers from the southeastern division, led by Detective Juan Sanchez, were initially charged with investigating what was at the time an assault and street robbery.
Little did they know that the man who reported to police he had been robbed would turn out to be a murder suspect in his own robbery.
Painstaking work followed.
Jones was interviewed from his hospital bed, before he became too ill to talk, to see if he was the man who committed the robbery.
Sanchez tracked down and talked to two of Jones' colleagues who were with him the morning of the robbery.
And, lastly, Sanchez found Cibrian and interviewed him.
But there wasn't enough evidence linking Cibrian to the robbery and assault of Jones. There were no indications they knew each other or were rival gang members.
Then Jones died and homicide Team One entered the investigation.
“We had a lot to work with, because of the fine job of Sanchez,” Rooney said.
Detectives recanvassed the neighborhood, re-interviewed witnesses and compiled enough evidence to arrest Cibrian.
Rooney said it will be up to prosecutors and perhaps a jury to determine Cibrian's fate in using what police have charged was deadly force to avenge a robbery.
Cibrian was booked into the County Jail on one count of murder.
Joe Hughes: (619) 542-4591; joe.hughes@uniontrib.com
