Agustin Rosendo Fernandez, a 28-year-old man from California, was charged with the murder of a college student from Saudi Arabia on Monday whose remains were found last week near a freeway in a Southern California desert city, according to The Associated Press.
Fernandez is accused of posing as a buyer for Abdullah Abdullatif Alkadi's car after it was posted for sale on Craigslist, then stabbing the 23-year-old man to death and stealing the vehicle, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck told a news conference on Monday afternoon, the AP reported.
"It's a very sad case, and it's a case that's all too common," Beck said in warning the public to take caution with e-commerce websites, according to NBC. "Craigslist, eBay, they're all opportunities for sales. They're also opportunities to let unwanted people into your life."
Alkadi, an engineering student at California State University, Northridge, disappeared from his home in the Los Angeles suburb of Reseda on Sept. 17, NBC reported. His body was discovered last week 125 miles away alongside the Interstate-10 freeway in Palm Desert.
Initially, two people were arrested in connection to the crime, but only Fernandez has been charged with a crime but the investigation continued, Beck said, according to the AP.
Police said they believed Fernandez killed Alkadi the day of his disappearance, aiming to keep the car, according to the AP. Detectives are investigating the location of the stabbing, but police said Fernandez had visited Alkadi's home.
The FBI had been assisting the Los Angeles Police Department with its probe, which resulted in the arrest of Fernandez and a second man who has since been released, the AP reported.
Alkadi's brother Ahmed Alkadi, 32, told the Los Angeles Daily News, his brother had come from Khobar, Saudi Arabia, in 2010 and was one of seven children.
