An Orange County man convicted of murdering his mother was captured in Mexico after failing to report to a halfway house in Santa Ana, violating the terms of his probation, authorities say.
Ike Nicholas Souzer, 20, was arrested Wednesday by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Mexican officials in Rosarito after crossing the border into Mexico.
Souzer, described by family and friends as autistic, had previously served time for stabbing his mother to death in 2017, when he was a minor. He was later convicted of vandalism and served a short sentence, then released on March 20, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
The judge in that case also sentenced Souzer to two years of probation.
After his final release, Souzer was transported to a halfway house in Santa Ana but left and never returned. He also failed to notify his probation officer of his whereabouts, violating the conditions of his release, the prosecutor said.
Orange County District. Atty. Todd Spitzer placed the blame on the judges who handled Souzer’s cases.
“My prosecutors have spent years and years trying to do everything they could to keep this violent criminal behind bars, and at every turn, the very judges who are elected to protect public safety have failed to do so. much to do with it and instead gave him break after break after break,” he said in a statement.
Souzer was arrested in 2017 when he was 13 for stabbing his mother outside her Garden Grove home, weeks after she said he ran away. She told police with her last breath that her attacker was her son.
He was convicted of voluntary manslaughter, although his defense attorney argued that the killing was an act of self-defense and that Souzer had suffered years of abuse.
Spitzer’s office reprimanded three separate judges for giving Souzer what prosecutors say were light sentences for a series of offenses following the murder of his mother. Souzer has been accused of three attacks on correctional officers, possession of a rod in prison and, most recently, drawing graffiti on a highway underpass.
“He’s not someone who deserves a break; he turned every opportunity to turn the page into a new opportunity to break the law and defy law enforcement. He didn’t just wander off and forget to check in with his probation officer,” Spitzer said.
This was the second time Souzer failed to report to the same halfway house. In 2022, he was released from prison with an electronic monitor and was later found by police in a homeless encampment in Anaheim.
He also escaped from a juvenile detention center in 2019.
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