Suspect Arrested in Murrieta After Stolen Mustang Collision and Drone Tracking
MURRIETA, CA — At approximately 4:30 p.m. on a Wednesday, officers with the Murrieta Police Department were dispatched to a reported vehicle theft at a construction site located near Los Alamos Road and Monroe Avenue. Witnesses reported seeing a white Ford Mustang driven away from the location.
Shortly after the initial call, the dispatch center received multiple 911 reports of a traffic collision on Los Alamos Road involving a white Ford Mustang and another vehicle. Callers indicated that the driver of the Mustang had fled the scene on foot. Responding officers determined that the Mustang involved in the collision was the vehicle previously reported stolen from the construction site.
Officers from the Patrol Division, the Community Policing Team, and the Traffic Unit established a perimeter in the area, aided by information from witnesses regarding the suspect’s direction of travel. The department’s Drone First Responder (DFR) was deployed to assist in the search and located the suspect standing inside a secondary construction site, where the individual was holding a shovel and a trash can.
Following an encounter with responding officers, the suspect was taken into custody without further incident. Law enforcement identified the individual as 26-year-old Trenidad Castilleja. Castilleja was arrested on charges including vehicle theft, felony hit-and-run, and resisting arrest.
