Jose Cumplido, 35, of Lancaster, California, was shot and killed on February 2, 2017. He lived in an industrial building apartment with two other men and had worked for the landlord in a landscaping business after being in the area about three months. On the morning of February 2, one roommate, Mario Jose Estrada, 24, reportedly called a relative and said he had killed Cumplido; family members then went to the sheriff’s station and alerted deputies. When deputies checked the apartment about 7 a.m., Estrada was gone, the gas stove was on with items burning, smoldering carpet was in a large trash bin in the living room, and blood and cut-out carpet areas were found in the bedroom.

A nearby resident found Cumplido lying in a vacant lot behind the apartment with a gunshot wound to the head; he was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators believe Cumplido was shot in the apartment, dragged in a wheeled trash can to the vacant lot, and the trash can was later returned to the apartment. Estrada turned himself in the next morning and was arrested; he was charged with murder on February 7, 2017, with the motive under investigation and one roommate saying he was asleep and heard or saw nothing.

Does anyone have information about Cumplido’s last days or the apartment complex that could help clarify what happened?