Santa Ana Man Dies, Sisters Sought

Two sisters are being sought in the suffocation death of the 42-year-old live-in boyfriend of one of them, Santa Ana police said today.

Stephanie Rene Vick, 28, and her sister, Sonya Lee Vick, 33, are believed to have tied up Antonio Ariza, Stephanie Vick’s boyfriend, after an argument, wrapped his head in bed linen and left him in a closet. Police suspect that the two might have fled to the Midwest, possibly to relatives, Santa Ana Police spokeswoman Maureen Thomas said.

The victim was alive when the sisters left, and authorities have not determined when he died. His body was found by a third sister five days after he was left in the closet.

The two women are suspected of having overpowered Ariza in their apartment in the 700 block of West Richland Avenue on June 9, Thomas said. She did not know details of the argument.

Ariza’s limbs were tied with television cable, wire and rope and his head was wrapped in bed linen, Thomas said. She said his death was caused by suffocation.

Ariza was employed as a maintenance worker in Orange County.