A man from California was arrested Wednesday afternoon in western Iowa on an attempted murder charge. Pottawattamie County Sheriff Jeff Danker told KJAN News 27-year old Edgard Castillo, of Vallejo, CA., was arrested at a weigh station off westbound interstate 80 at around 2:10-p.m., following an incident that occurred earlier at a car wash just south of I-80, on the north side of Walnut. Danker says two men came into the Econolodge in Walnut asking for help, after one of the men, 22-year old Gustavo Cervantes-Romero, of Vallejo, CA had been stabbed 11 times, in both the chest and the back. (click on the left of the audio bar to listen)
Danker says after they grabbed some food at a convenience store, they went across the street to a car wash parking lot.
Romero was transported to the Cass County Memorial Hospital in Atlantic, and then flown to an Omaha hospital, where he was listed in stable condition. The suspect (Castillo) took off and traveled west on I-80 before pulling off at the weigh station near mile marker 44, where he attempted to hide his vehicle among the semi’s parked there.
The third individual, Manuel Ortega, of Vallejo, CA, was charged with offenses unrelated to the stabbing. Castillo had warrants out of California for being a Fugitive From Justice.