Sheriff’s detectives are continuing to investigate the case of a man found stabbed to death in the 9000 block of Sawyer Road, just outside the city limits of Oakdale on Thursday, June 23.
Stanislaus County Sherriff’s Sergeant Anthony Bejaran stated that the department received a 9-1-1 call at 9:10 a.m. regarding a man stabbed in front of a residence on Sawyer Road.
When deputies arrived they found a 30-year-old man on the ground with apparent stab wounds to various parts of his body. Emergency medical crews attempted lifesaving efforts for the victim, however, he was pronounced dead at the scene. Detectives and crime scene personnel were then notified to respond to the residence.
Bejaran said responding deputies detained Ren Arnell Bellido, 42, of Escalon on the property.
With the body draped with a white cloth in front of the garage of the residence, detectives and crime scene technicians worked throughout the day interviewing witnesses and processing the scene.
Bejaran said detectives were initially working with a tentative identity of the victim and were awaiting positive identification. Later in the day the victim was identified as Marcus Andrew Moore, 30, of Lodi.
One resident who lives near the crime scene and asked not to be identified, said the victim knocked on his door around 8:30 that morning asking to use the phone.
The resident said the man was barefoot and told him he had just been released from Oak Valley Hospital and wanted to use the phone to call the sheriff.
“He said he needed to get his clothes and money from next door and they weren’t letting him inside,” the neighbor said.
The neighbor allowed the man to use his telephone but said the sheriff’s department declined to respond.
About a half-hour later, the man said he and his wife heard arguing coming from next door. Moments later he saw a car pulled over to the side of the road with someone providing assistance to the victim on the ground.
“It may have been better if the sheriff came out when he called,” the resident said.
Bellido was later arrested on a charge of murder and was booked into Stanislaus County Jail. Bail was set at $3 million and he has a court date of July 12 in the case.
Sgt. Bejaran said Moore had spoken with a watch commander the day of the incident and had asked for a civil stand-by.
“The victim was uncooperative and gave very limited information during the conversation,” Bejaran said. “Per our policy a civil stand-by is used in a domestic violence investigation to assist a victim. Based on the information the watch commander had when he spoke with the victim, the decision was made not to send a deputy.”
A female resident of the house where the incident occurred who witnessed the altercation between Moore and Bellido when contacted on Friday, June 24, said she had taken Moore to the hospital on Wednesday night because he was on methamphetamine.
She later told him not to return to the property (because of the drugs) and when he did the following morning, he got into an altercation with Bellido and was subsequently stabbed.
The sheriff’s department asks that anyone with information regarding this investigation call Detective David Hickman at 209-525-7042.
