A Venezuelan migrant identified by the Department of Homeland Security as being in the country illegally has now been charged with special-circumstance murder in the brutal stabbing of a 68-year-old California retiree — one day after a judge released the suspect from jail.
Marcos Iriarte-Valdez, 36, is accused of fatally stabbing Todd Stewart outside Stewart’s Martinez home last Thursday, an attack captured on chilling neighborhood surveillance video.
And the timeline is staggering.
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Iriarte-Valdez was already facing residential burglary charges and was on pretrial release when authorities jailed him last Tuesday for allegedly violating the conditions of his home-detention monitoring.
On Wednesday, a Contra Costa County judge released him on his own recognizance and sent him back to home detention.
On Thursday, Stewart was killed.
Prosecutors have since charged Iriarte-Valdez not only with murder, but with the special circumstance of committing the killing while fleeing an attempted burglary, according to Contra Costa County court records reported by KTVU.
DHS entered the case Tuesday, identifying Iriarte-Valdez — whose full name federal officials gave as Marcos Eduardo Iriarte Valdezusper — as a Venezuelan national unlawfully present in the United States who also holds Spanish citizenship.
“This Venezuelan illegal alien STABBED A FATHER TO DEATH in sanctuary California,” DHS wrote on X, describing the government’s allegations against him.
The agency then directly challenged California officials.
“Governor Gavin Newsom must NOT RELEASE this murderer from jail and turn him over to us so we can REMOVE him from our nation,” DHS said.
This Venezuelan illegal alien STABBED A FATHER TO DEATH in sanctuary California.@CAgovernor must NOT RELEASE this murderer from jail and turn him over to us so we can REMOVE him from our nation. https://t.co/N5GhEN3S5q pic.twitter.com/NeTiGSvCJc
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) August 11, 2026
The department’s use of “murderer” reflects the administration’s characterization of the case; Iriarte-Valdez is accused of the killing and has not been convicted.
DHS said Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged a detainer against Iriarte-Valdez at the Contra Costa County Jail on Saturday.
“Sanctuary politicians must stop putting politics above public safety,” DHS separately said. “This type of insanity leads to more crimes and more innocent victims.”
The administration argues California’s sanctuary policies can prevent local authorities from cooperating fully with federal immigration enforcement and allow removable migrants accused or convicted of crimes to return to the community.
DHS identifies Marcos Iriarte-Valdez as a Venezuelan migrant unlawfully in the U.S. — ICE had lodged a detainer against him following a prior arrest.
A judge released Iriarte-Valdez Wednesday after an alleged home-detention violation — Todd Stewart was stabbed to death the following day — prosecutors allege Stewart was killed while the suspect was fleeing an attempted burglary.
Iriarte-Valdez now faces special-circumstance murder charges — the elevated charge carries the most serious penalties under California law.
He is now being held without bail — a reversal after authorities initially set bail at $1.1 million.
But in this case, the most immediate question is even more basic: Why was Iriarte-Valdez out of jail at all?
He had been accused of burglarizing two Orinda homes on April 29 and was released pending trial.
Police then arrested him last Tuesday for allegedly violating home-detention requirements.
The next day, he was released again.
Martinez Police Chief Andrew White said it appeared Iriarte-Valdez did not even have his electronic monitoring equipment put back on until Friday — the day after Stewart was killed.
Police arrested Iriarte-Valdez that evening at his Martinez residence after investigators used automated license-plate readers and tips from the public to identify his vehicle and track him down.
Authorities initially said he was being held on $1.1 million bail. But after prosecutors filed the special-circumstance murder charge Tuesday, KTVU reported that he was being held without bail ahead of his Wednesday arraignment.
Police initially said they knew of no connection between Iriarte-Valdez and Stewart. Prosecutors’ latest filing alleges the killing occurred as Iriarte-Valdez fled an attempted burglary.
Stewart had reportedly been working on a project in his garage before the violence erupted outside the home where he had lived for decades.
His neighbors are still struggling to comprehend it.
“I’m still processing because I still expect to see him over the fence,” neighbor Galina Pasternak told KTVU.
“It’s nowhere as bad as his family, because they lost their father, his wife lost her husband,” she said. “They finally were spending more time together because they were retired. They were traveling.”
Stabbing suspect accused of butchering retiree outside his Bay Area home unmaked as illegal migrant https://t.co/T6urW5Jbel pic.twitter.com/erBAVNLDSk
— New York Post (@nypost) August 12, 2026
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