Stabbing victim near Oakdale had called sheriff’s office before attack

A Lodi man who was stabbed to death in front of a country home near Oakdale on Thursday morning had called the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department to ask for help getting his belongings from the home shortly before he was attacked.

An Escalon man, 42-year-old Ren Bellido, was detained at the scene and later arrested on suspicion of murder.

The incident took place near a home in the 9000 block of Sawyer Avenue, a rural neighborhood where most of the homes sit on several acres near the Stanislaus River between Oakdale and Riverbank.

Stanislaus County sheriff’s Sgt. Anthony Bejaran said the stabbing was reported at 9:10 a.m.

The victim, found in the front of a barn, suffered at least one stab wound to his upper body, Bejaran said.

A neighbor who asked not to be identified said the victim had been staying at the home next door, or possibly the trailer on the property, and that she saw him about 15 minutes before he was killed.

The victim, 30-year-old Marcus Andrew Moore, walked up to her home and asked to use a phone to call police because he needed to get his belongings from the residence, the neighbor said. He had been arguing with people who lived there, the neighbor said.

The neighbor said Moore told her he had spent the night at the hospital – he didn’t say which one – and had walked back to the residence. She said Moore wasn’t wearing shoes and had a hospital bracelet on his wrist.

She allowed him to use her husband’s cellphone to call the Sheriff’s Department’s watch commander, who told the man a deputy would not be responding to provide assistance retrieving his belongings, known as a “civil standby.”

“(Moore) spoke with the watch commander this morning but he was vague in his conversation with the watch commander, provided very little information and was uncooperative,” Bejaran said. “Typically, per our policy, we provide civil standbys for domestic violence cases. This was not a domestic violence case. Based on the very limited information, the decision was made not to send a deputy.”

About 15 minutes later, the neighbor said she went outside and saw Moore lying on the ground bleeding. A Good Samaritan had pulled over to help the victim and called 911.

First responders arrived and performed CPR on Moore for at least 15 minutes before he was pronounced dead.

Bellido was arrested on the property, but Bejaran would not say where exactly he was found or whether he lived there. He also declined to say if the stabbing occurred in the home, inside the trailer or somewhere else on the property.

He also would not say if Moore was living on the property.

The owner of the property said she rents the home to a family of four. The tenants, she said, are a couple in their 50s and their children, a 19-year-old man and 10-year-old girl. She said neither the victim nor suspect is on the lease. She said the family moved into the home May 1.

The neighbor said before Moore came to her house asking to use the phone, she heard a woman at the house yell, “Get the f--- out, and don’t you ever come back.”

It’s the third homicide in Stanislaus County in the past seven days and the seventh – including a fatal officer-involved shooting in Turlock – since May 30.

Anyone with information regarding this investigation is asked to call Detective David Hickman at 209-525-7042.

Anonymous tips can be left by calling Crime Stoppers at (209) 521-4636. Tipsters can also email at www.modestopolice.com/CrimeStoppers, or text tips to CRIMES (274637) by typing “Tip704” plus a message; tipsters are eligible for a cash reward.

This story was originally published June 23, 2016 at 10:37 AM with the headline "Stabbing victim near Oakdale had called sheriff’s office before attack."