Man arrested in Georgia in slaying at homeless camp

BY KEITH EPPS

A man accused of killing another man at a Fredericksburg homeless camp July 25 has been arrested in Georgia.

 

Juan Antonio Zarco Melchor, 43, was apprehended about 6 a.m.Tuesday at a relative’s home in Marietta, Fredericksburg police spokeswoman Natatia Bledsoe said. He is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the stabbing death of 43-year-old Armando Escobar.

 

Escobar was found dead in a tent in a homeless camp beyond the end of Roffman Road in the Bragg Hill area known are “La Montana.”

 

Bledsoe said Detective Patrick Lamb’s investigation led to the murder warrant about Zarco Melchor being obtained Wednesday of  last week. Since then, city police have been working with the U.S. Marshals Service and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement to find the suspect and take him into custody.

 

Zarco Melchor, also known as Juan Zarco and “Michaocano” is an illegal alien from western Mexico. Bledsoe said police believe he left Fredericksburg immediately after the slaying. He will be extradited back to Virginia from Georgia.

 

Escobar had been in the Fredericksburg area since 2008 and had lived in the homeless camp for more than a year. He had a wife, children and other family in El Salvador and worked here as a laborer.

 

Bledsoe said police still don’t know what led to the stabbing. Anyone with information is asked to call Lamb at 654-5740