SANTA CRUZ—Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputies have arrested two men suspected of killing a fellow inmate in a cell at Santa Cruz Main Jail designated for active gang members.
Mario Lozano, 33, of Santa Cruz and Jason Cortez, 25, of Watsonville, face murder charges for allegedly killing 24-year-old German Carrillo, of Watsonville.
Lozano has been in custody since August 2018 on murder charges. Cortez has been in custody since January 2019 on felony weapons charges.
Investigators believe that Carrillo was strangled sometime between late Oct. 13 and early the next day. He had been in custody for murder since April of 2013. He was found dead in his cell around 11 a.m. on Oct. 14.
The investigation is ongoing. Detectives are working with the District Attorney’s office to file charges against Lozano and Cortez, said Watsonville Police Department spokeswoman Michelle Pulido.
