Palm Springs Man Charged With Two Recent Murders; Case Remains Open

A Palm Springs man has been charged with two counts of murder, the victims were both Palm Springs residents.

Palm Springs police held a press conference Wednesday morning that provided brief information on the case as it is a developing situation.

“The palm springs police department has identified and arrested Luis Flores Cantor, a 31-year-old male of Palm Springs, California, for the murders of Jennifer Dillon and Joseph Rajczi,” said Acting Police Chief Melissa Desmarais with the Palm Springs Police Department.

59-year old Jennifer Dillon was found dead on January 25th in the Racquet Club Estates neighborhood of Palm Springs. Joseph Rajczi, who was 80 years old, was found dead in a home on Via Colusa on July 30th.

Detective getting a recent break in the case, but still looking for a motive and a relation between the victims.

“Cantor was arrested on August 25th on unrelated charges. This arrest gave investigators the break that they needed. it was during this arrest that our investigators discovered significant evidence linking cantor to Joseph Rajczi’s murder,” explained Desmarais.

Palm Springs Police are not able to divulge much information, as they want to preserve information and evidence for future court trials, but they did explain how authorities captured Luis Cantor.

“Officers responded to the 2200 block of Caliente Drive in Palm Springs regarding a male that was passed out inside of his vehicle. Officers arrived and contacted Luis Cantor inside of his car. During the contact, Cantor ran from officers but was captured a short distance away and was taken into custody after fighting with and injuring Palm Springs officers,” said Desmarais.

Authorities explained that investigators found several similarities between the murders of Dillon and Rajczi, but were not able to say exactly what linked Cantor to the deaths.

“Additionally we filed three counts of first-degree burglary and those were separate and unrelated incidents against Mr. Cantor. Additionally, Mr. Hightower went to court this morning and asked for a no-bail hold as opposed to a $1 million dollar bail, and that was granted by the judge,” said Mike Hestrin, Riverside County District Attorney.

“Not going into specifics, but we did have people that reached out to us and reported some suspicious circumstances which led us to some very very important findings in these cases,” added Desmarais.

This case remains open and is currently being investigated by the Palm Springs Detective Bureau, police say no threat remains to the public as authorities continue to piece together the evidence.