Laguna Hills : Costa Mesa Man Held in Month-Old Murder
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Sheriff’s investigators have arrested a 20-year-old Costa Mesa man on suspicion of killing a man whose body was found in a vacant lot in Laguna Hills last month, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman said Thursday.
Lt. Dick Olson said Charles Edward Burke Jr. of 2248 Canyon Drive was arrested at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at his home without incident. He was booked into the Orange County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bond.
Burke is accused of killing Gregory Mark McGowan, 30, whose body was found in a vacant field at Hendon Drive and Camberwell Street the morning of Aug. 11. He had been hit on the head with a heavy object, Olson said.
Earlier this week, investigators had requested information from anyone who may have known McGowan. But Olson said no one had called investigators, and the arrest of Burke culminated the Sheriff Department’s own investigation.
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