LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- A "violent predator" arrested on suspicion of carrying out a string of attacks against seven mainly homeless men in Southern California, brutally beating them and killing three, also faced investigation in the disappearances of two of his relatives in Texas, authorities said Tuesday.

Ramon Escobar, 47, who was believed to be homeless himself, likely targeted his victims to rob them, Los Angeles police Capt. Capt. William Hayes told reporters.

Hayes called Escobar a "violent predator" and said investigators believe he drove to California from Houston and attacked the men in Los Angeles and Santa Monica beginning Sept. 8, Hayes said.

CBS Los Angeles reports that police recovered a wooden baseball bat and a pair of bolt cutters from Escobar's car that are believed to have been used in the attacks.

"I think it was a crime of opportunity," Hayes said. "... It appears the motive in most of these cases was robbery."

Escobar was arrested Monday in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Monica after a man sitting on a sidewalk was beaten unconscious and robbed of some of his possessions, police said. That victim remains in coma.

Police will ask prosecutors Wednesday to charge Escobar with three counts of murder and four counts of attempted murder, officials said.

He's being held without bail, and it wasn't immediately known if he has an attorney who can speak on his behalf.

Escobar is a person of interest in the disappearances late last month of 60-year-old Dina Escobar and her brother, 65-year-old Rogelio Escobar, Houston police said in a statement.

Dina Escobar's burned van was found in Galveston, Texas, a few days after she went looking for her brother. She was last seen Aug. 28, two days after her brother disappeared, the statement said.

Ramon Escobar is their nephew, and Texas authorities said they want to talk to him.

Dina's daughter, Ligia Salamanca, spoke to CBS affiliate KHOU-TV on Tuesday.

"The detectives called me last night wanting me to know before I saw it on the media that there has been an arrest made of a family member and it may be connected to our case" Salamanca said.

She told KHOU-TV that she's heartbroken, but feels better having some answers.

"The not knowing is the worst, going to sleep every night not knowing where your family is, what their going through or if something bad happened; not having them at home to know what they're going through – to lay them to rest if that's what it comes to," she said.

Ramon Escobar KHOU-TV

Escobar spent five years in prison for robbery starting in the mid-1990s, Hayes said. Records in Texas show Escobar has had arrests for vehicle burglary, trespassing, failure to stop, public intoxication and two assaults, most recently in November 2017. That case was described as a misdemeanor.

Investigators believe Escobar was the man who used a baseball bat to bash the heads of three homeless men sleeping on downtown Los Angeles streets before dawn on Sept. 16, police said in a statement. Two died.

He was recorded on surveillance video ransacking their pockets and belongings.

Two homeless men sleeping on the beach were bludgeoned in the head early on Sept. 8 and Sept. 10, leaving one in critical condition, officials said.

Another man who apparently was sleeping on the beach was found dead under the Santa Monica Pier on Sept. 20. Steven Ray Cruze Jr., 39, of San Gabriel, had been beaten to death.

Authorities at first described him as homeless, but family and friends said the father of two, who loved to fish at the pier, worked boats in neighboring Marina del Rey and sometimes camped out under the pier to avoid the long commute home.</s>(Reuters) - Police arrested and charged a man in Santa Monica, California, with murder, after he apparently attacked several homeless men with a baseball bat earlier this month, killing at least two, according to a statement by the Los Angeles Police Department.

Police will provide further details on the investigation at a news briefing in Los Angeles later on Tuesday.

Ramon Escobar, 47, was arrested Monday after he allegedly beat a homeless man unconscious in Santa Monica, LAPD said.

Detectives believe Escobar is responsible for at least three other attacks on homeless men while they were sleeping in downtown Los Angeles on Sept. 16, two of which were fatal.

LAPD Captain William Hayes said the suspect, who was caught on surveillance video last week, had rummaged through the victims’ belongings in search of valuable items before leaving the scene.

Santa Monica police were also investigating Escobar’s possible involvement in a third murder after officers found a dead man under the city pier on Sept. 20, they said on Monday.

Escobar is also a person of interest in the August disappearance of two of his relatives in the Houston area, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times on Monday.

Houston Police Lieutenant Humberto Lopez told the paper that Escobar’s uncle and aunt, Rogelio and Dina Escobar, had been missing since August. Police found the charred remains of Dina Escobar’s van days after they disappeared, the paper said.

The Houston Police Department declined to respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.</s>LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A man has been arrested on suspicion of bludgeoning several homeless men with a baseball bat, two of them fatally, in a series of attacks this month in downtown Los Angeles and the adjacent beachfront city of Santa Monica, police said on Tuesday.

Ramon Escobar, 47, who the Los Angeles Times reported is also wanted for questioning in the disappearance of an aunt and uncle in Houston, Texas, was arrested on Monday in Santa Monica after he allegedly beat a homeless man unconscious there, police said.

Escobar was jailed in Santa Monica on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. He also faces two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder stemming from the beatings of three other homeless men with a baseball bat while they slept on Sept. 16 in the financial district of Los Angeles, according to Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Mike Lopez.

Two of those victims died four days later. The third was hospitalized in critical condition, police said. The Santa Monica victim suffered blunt-force trauma injuries to his head, according to police, but the weapon used was not specified.

The LAPD and Santa Monica police planned to furnish additional details at a news briefing in Los Angeles later on Tuesday.

At a news conference last week, LAPD Captain William Hayes said the suspect was caught on surveillance video rummaging through the victims’ belongings in search of valuable items before leaving the scene.

Santa Monica police were also investigating whether Escobar was involved in the fatal bludgeoning of another man found dead under the city pier on Sept. 20, they said on Monday. Relatives of that victim have said the man was not homeless but often slept on the beach after overnight fishing trips, according to the Los Angeles Times.

In addition to being suspected in several attacks in Southern California, the Times said Escobar was a person of interest in the August disappearance of two relatives in the Houston area.

Houston Police Lieutenant Humberto Lopez told the paper that Escobar’s uncle and aunt, Rogelio and Dina Escobar, had been missing since August. Police found the charred remains of Dina Escobar’s van days after they disappeared, the newspaper said.

The Houston Police Department declined to respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. The LAPD declined to comment to Reuters on the Houston case.</s>Last Thursday, Santa Monica police found the body of Steven Ray Cruze Jr., 39, of San Gabriel, under the Santa Monica Pier. Cruze was beaten to death and suffered major injuries to his head. Police in Los Angeles and Santa Monica have been investigating links between that attack and the downtown killings, but it remains unclear if there is any evidence tying Escobar to Cruze’s death. There were no witnesses or surveillance images recovered in connection with the slaying, police have said.</s>Police say Ramon Escobar carried out attacks in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, some fatal, and is person of interest in disappearance of two relatives in Houston</s>SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say a man was found fatally bludgeoned on a Southern California beach the same day two of three homeless men died after being beaten last weekend in downtown Los Angeles.

Santa Monica police initially described the man found dead under the city's pier Thursday as homeless. But family members tell the Los Angeles Times that 39-year-old Steven Ray Cruze Jr. lived with his parents in San Gabriel and sometimes slept outside on a hammock after fishing at night in Santa Monica.

Lt. Saul Rodriguez says Santa Monica detectives are checking with Los Angeles police for links to the Los Angeles beatings.

The LA victims were sleeping when an assailant hit them with a bat Sunday. Two died Thursday.

Investigators believe the assailant is homeless and the motive was robbery.</s>The person of interest in two Houston missing persons cases is behind bars in Los Angeles for a brutal killing spree, police say."Nobody in their right mind would do something as vicious as this," said LAPD Capt. William Hayes during a press conference on Tuesday.Los Angeles police were not mincing words as charges were filed against Ramon Escobar, accused of violently beating seven homeless men in L.A. and Santa Monica over the past few weeks.Police say those men were targeted as they slept, and the motive was robbery."Although they were homeless individuals, he appears to be homeless himself and that it looks like he was attempting to gain funds or something from them," Hayes said.Police released surveillance video of Ramon as their body count increased. He was finally found and arrested Monday night.Of the seven victims, police say three men died and two others remain in a coma."It's been very surreal," said Lia Salamanca, whose mother is one of the two people missing in Houston."And of course it gives me a fear for what happened to my mom and my uncle."Ramon is the person of interest in the disappearance of Dinora Escobar and her brother, Rogelio.Investigators believe he fled Houston, driving his black Honda CRV to California shortly after he was interviewed in the missing persons cases."He's there at the house both days, when my uncle went missing and when my mom went missing," Salamanca said.Rogelio was last seen Sunday, Aug. 26 outside his home.His sister was last seen leaving that same home, beginning a search for her brother on Tuesday, Aug. 28.Family members say during the past year, Ramon was trying to get back on his feet. His uncle Rogelio opened up his house and his aunt Dinora, her heart.But they say he had a mental disorder and distanced himself."He stopped taking his medication and that changed his attitude a lot," said one of Ramon's cousins, who asked not to be named.Now the very two people who cared about him the most are still nowhere to be found."There's no more doubt in my head that he had part or he had something to do with the disappearance of my uncle and my aunt."So far their only lead is Dinora's white van found torched in Galveston."The not knowing is the worst. Going to sleep every night not knowing where your family is, what they're going through," Salamanca said.If you know anything that may help Houston police find these missing siblings, you are asked to contact authorities.</s>A man identified as the suspect in the murder of two homeless men in Los Angeles may also be connected to the disappearance of two of his own family members in the Houston area, police sources say.Ramon Escobar was arrested Monday in connection with a series of baseball bat-beatings of homeless men as they were sleeping on the streets of downtown L.A.Eyewitness News has learned Escobar is wanted in connection to the disappearance of two siblings in the Houston area last month.Rogelio and Dina Escobar went missing in August within days of each other. First Rogelio disappeared and then Dina went missing a few days later when she went to look for her brother.Investigators later found a burned-out vehicle on a Galveston beach connected to Dina Escobar.Sources say Dina is Ramon's mother and Rogelio is his uncle.Ramon's exact connection to their disappearance has not been detailed. Los Angeles police are expected to hold a press conference Tuesday to discuss the case.Dina's daughter spoke to ABC sister station KTRK in Houston not long after her mother's disappearance."We're trying to hang in there. We just have a really bad feeling. This is not something normal. They wouldn't be gone this long. They wouldn't not contact us," said Ligia Salamanca.Family members said they have not heard from Ramon since the disappearances but said he did stop taking medication for mental illness around that time.Earlier Monday, police announced the arrest of Ramon. The 47-year-old was booked for murder and is being held without bail, the LAPD said in a press release. The arrest came when officers from the Santa Monica Police Department found a man suffering from blunt-force trauma in the 1500 block of 7th Street shortly before 7 a.m. The victim was rushed to the hospital in unknown condition. After a search of the area, Ramon was found in the 600 block of Broadway Avenue and placed under arrest for the Santa Monica assault.Upon an ongoing investigation, Los Angeles police said they believe Ramon is also the man who used a baseball bat to attack three separate homeless victims - all sleeping on downtown L.A. streets - on Sept. 16. Two of those victims died.Police said the suspect approached the sleeping homeless men and beat them repeatedly on the head and shoulders with a baseball bat, then ransacked their pockets and belongings to rob them.Santa Monica police said they are looking at whether Ramon is responsible for three other Santa Monica cases of men being assaulted and suffering blunt-force trauma. One of those victims died.The first attack happened on Sept. 8 in the 1800 block of Santa Monica Beach. A homeless man was attacked while he was asleep. He suffered blunt-force trauma and has been released from the hospital, police said.The second attack in Santa Monica was just two days later. A homeless man was sleeping on the beach when he was attacked. Police said he remains in critical condition from blunt-force trauma.On Sept. 20, a man who was sleeping under the Santa Monica Pier was found suffering from blunt-force trauma as well. The victim died under similar circumstances, police said. There's no surveillance video and no witnesses of the incident, which makes it the hardest of the three to connect to the suspect, police said.An investigation into the crimes is ongoing.</s>SANTA MONICA, Calif. (CBSNEWS.COM) – Authorities say a man arrested Monday after an assault in Santa Monica, California is also behind a string of violent attacks in that city and downtown Los Angeles, and may be connected to a crime spree that started in Texas.

There have been seven violent attacks in less than three weeks, including four in Santa Monica, and CBS Los Angeles learned Monday night of the disappearance of two people from Houston who may be connected to the suspect.

Ramon Escobar, 47, is a person of interest in the disappearance of Rogelio Escobar and Dina Escobar — his uncle and aunt, Houston police said.

Both went missing in late August and foul play is suspected in their disappearances, according to the Houston Police Department.

The most recent attack was Monday. The victim suffered head injuries in an assault just before 7 a.m., according to Santa Monica Police Lt. Saul Rodriguez.

He was hospitalized with blunt force trauma after being treated at the scene.

Police later searched the area and arrested Escobar.

◊◊◊ Click Here To Read The Complete Story On cbsnews.com ◊◊◊</s>LOS ANGELES — The Latest on a man suspected in brutal beatings of homeless men in Southern California (all times local):

A man under investigation in brutal beatings of Southern California homeless men and the disappearances of relatives in Texas has a criminal record that includes assault.

Records in Texas show 47-year-old Ramon Escobar has had arrests for vehicle burglary, trespass, failure to stop, public intoxication and two assaults, most recently in November 2017. That case was described as a misdemeanor.

Escobar was arrested Monday in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Monica for allegedly beating a homeless man into unconsciousness.

Los Angeles police say he's a suspect in a recent attack on three homeless men, including two who subsequently died.

Houston police say Escobar is a person of interest in the disappearances of an aunt and uncle last month.

A man arrested on suspicion of beating a Southern California homeless man into unconsciousness and suspected in three fatal beatings is also being investigated in the disappearance of two Texas relatives.

Houston police Lt. Humberto Lopez tells the Los Angeles Times that 47-year-old Ramon Escobar is a person of interest in the disappearances last month of 60-year-old Dina Escobar and her brother, 65-year-old Rogelio Escobar.

Dina Escobar's burned van was found in Galveston a few days after she went looking for her missing brother.

Lopez says Ramon Escobar is their nephew and police want to talk to him.

The Southern California beatings occurred in Los Angeles and suburban Santa Monica, where Ramon Escobar was arrested Monday after a homeless man was severely beaten.
Police in California arrest Ramon Escobar, 47, on charges of killing and assaulting homeless people, and are investigating whether he may have attacked a fisherman napping beneath a pier, in the cities of Los Angeles and Santa Monica, California. Authorities believe Escobar may be a serial killer, who is now a person of interest in the disappearance of his aunt and uncle in Houston, Texas.