Resurrection Walk

Ex-Wife Charged in Slaying of Hero Deputy By Scott Anderson, Times Staff Writer

The former wife of a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy once lauded for his bravery in the face of fire has been charged with his death after a domestic confrontation in Quartz Hill.

Lucinda Sanz, 33, was charged Monday with first-degree murder for shooting her ex-husband, Roberto Sanz, in the back as he walked across the front lawn of the home the two once shared with their young son. Sheriff’s investigators said the former couple had been in a heated argument just moments before. Lucinda Sanz is being held on $5 million bail in the county jail.

Homicide investigators said the killing occurred around 8 p.m. Sunday in the 4500 block of Quartz Hill Road shortly after Roberto Sanz had returned his son to his ex-wife’s home after a weekend visitation that was part of the couple’s custody agreement. Sgt. Dallas Quinto said the two adults had argued in the house and Roberto Sanz left through the front door. Moments later he was shot twice in the back while he crossed the lawn to his pickup truck parked on the street. The couple’s young son did not witness the shooting, Quinto said.

Roberto Sanz was not wearing a bulletproof vest at the time of the shooting because he was not on duty.

“It’s just so sad that it came to this,” Quinto said. “Roberto was under constant threat when he worked on the streets, protecting the community. To have the ultimate threat come from inside his family is heartbreaking. He was much loved by his fellow deputies.”

Roberto Sanz, 35, was part of a gang-suppression team assigned to the sheriff’s Antelope Valley substation. Prior to that he was assigned to the jail division. A year ago, he was praised by Sheriff Tim Ashland and awarded the department’s medal of valor after a shoot-out with members of a Lancaster gang who ambushed Sanz when he stopped at the Flip’s hamburger stand. Sanz was unhurt in the shooting but one gang member was shot and killed and another was wounded. Two other gunmen got away and have never been identified.

Bosch read the story again. Quartz Hill was a suburb of a suburb called Palmdale, located in the vast northeastern expanse of the county. Once a small desert town, it had, like the nearby equally small town of Lancaster, experienced tremendous population growth since the turn of the century when housing prices in Los Angeles exploded, sending thousands of people into the far-flung areas of the county to find affordable homes. Palmdale and Lancaster grew into a single mini — desert metropolis with all the problems that came with urban life. That included gangs and drugs. The sheriff’s department had its hands full out there.

Quartz Hill was nestled next to Palmdale and Lancaster. Bosch had been out there on cases in the past and he remembered tumbleweeds and sand-swept streets. He expected all of that might be different now.