Jonathan Ho, Nicholas Nguyen arrested in relation to murder of Jeffrey Cheng
By Sam Catanzaro
A Marina del Rey man was arrested last week along with a Oklahoma City man in connection to a 2019 murder of a man whose body was found in the trunk of a car in Orange County.
According to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, on October 14 deputies made two arrests related to the 2019 murder of Jeffrey Cheng of Irvine. Cheng’s body was found in the trunk of a car parked on Leafwood Street in the city of Stanton on March 8, 2019.
On October 14, Sheriff’s homicide investigators, with the assistance of the U.S. Marshals Office, executed warrants in Marina del Rey and in Oklahoma City on Thursday and took Jonathan Ho, 32, and Nicholas Nguyen, 27, into custody without incident.
Around 1,000 fentanyl pills, and 5,000 methamphetamine pills were also seized during the arrests. According to the OC Sheriff’s Department, the fentanyl pills have an estimated street value of approximately $30,000.
Ho was booked into OC jail on drug-related charges and possession of metal knuckles. Nguyen was charged with conspiracy to commit murder and is awaiting extradition to California, the OC Sheriff’s Departmen said.
“The arrests made in this case moves us closer to achieving justice for the victim and his family,” wrote OC Sheriff Don Barnes in a Tweet. Additionally 1K fentanyl pills and 5K meth pills were seized as a result of the warrants for this case. Each pill removed from our streets reduces the potential for a life lost.”
A motive for the crime and connection between the victim and suspects remains under active investigation.
