OXNARD : Man Turns Himself in for 1976 Slaying

A 46-year-old man is being held at Ventura County Jail after turning himself in earlier this week for a slaying he confessed to committing in Oxnard 16 years ago, authorities said.

Richard Frank Maytorena, 46, is being held in lieu of $250,000 bail, Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. Chris Lathrop said Friday.

Maytorena, who lived in Oxnard at the time of the incident and who lives in Riverside County now, turned himself in to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office in Moreno Valley on Wednesday, saying he had killed 24-year-old Claude William Bloomquist II on July 16, 1976, in Oxnard.

Bloomquist’s body was found in a vehicle parked in the 1000 block of South Ventura Road.

“He was found in a vehicle that had apparently caught on fire,” Deputy Coroner Zelmira Isaac said.

Isaac said the coroner’s office never determined exactly how the victim died, although it listed the official cause of death as fire and smoke and soot inhalation.

Until Maytorena’s confession this week, Oxnard police had concluded the death was probably accidental, police said. Maytorena was transferred from Riverside County to Ventura County Jail on Friday morning. His arraignment hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Monday in Division 12 of Ventura County Superior Court.