Bail set at $250,000 for suspect in 71-year-old's brutal beating

Erik Eduardo Navarro faces $250,000 bail after detectives pulled him from an Oklahoma jail on Tuesday. The 26-year-old man is suspected of beating Therese Garcia, a 71-year-old woman, with a metal bat in her Crestline home on Aug. 25.

Navarro had been staying with Garcia for about a week after claiming he was robbed while tent camping nearby. According to Garcia's daughter Abbie, the attack began the night after Therese asked him to leave. The violence lasted for hours.

Investigators located Navarro in Cleveland County, Oklahoma, where he was already serving time on separate traffic charges. Jenny Smith, a spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, stated that Navarro has family in that state. Detectives arranged his extradition back to California.

Navarro was booked at the West Valley Detention Center on suspicion of battery with serious injury, robbery, elder abuse likely to produce great bodily injury or death, and assault with a deadly weapon. Inmate records show he remains in custody.

Police said Navarro stole credit cards and an e-bike while fleeing the scene. By September, Garcia was recovering from a traumatic brain injury, a brain bleed, and lacerations and swelling on her head, face, arm, and hands.

Oklahoma court records show Navarro pleaded guilty to domestic assault and battery by strangulation in 2022.