A man who fatally stabbed his mother when he was 13 years old was captured Wednesday in Rosarito, Mexico after a weeklong manhunt.
Ike Nicholas Souzer, 20, was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Mexican officials acting on an alert from the Orange County District Attorney's undercover AB 109 Task Force that Souzer had crossed into Mexico near the San Ysidro/Mexico border, said Kimberly Edds, a spokeswoman for the Orange County District Attorney's office.
Souzer was released from custody on March 20 after he pleaded guilty to one count of felony vandalism and was sentenced to 90 days in county jail by Orange County Superior Court Judge Larry Yellin and placed on formal probation for two years, Edds said.
After his release from custody in March 20, personnel from Project Kinship, which has spent years advocating for Souzer's release from custody, transported Souzer from jail to a transitional housing location in Santa Ana. After he arrived at the house, he left and never returned, Edds said.
Souzer also failed to notify his probation officer of his whereabouts in violation of the terms of his formal probation.
Souzer has a history of violence since his teen years. He was convicted of killing his 47-year-old mother, Barbara Scheuer-Souzer when he was 13 years old at their residence in the 11000 block of Gilbert Street in Garden Grove on May 4, 2017. Scheuer-Souzer told authorities before she died in a hospital that her son was the one who attacked her.
According to court papers, Souzer told investigators when he was arrested for his mother's stabbing that he had been subjected to verbal and physical abuse at his mother's hands in the past. He claimed he was using the knife in self-defense after he got into a heated conflict over household chores, according to court papers.
In 2021, Orange County Superior Court Judge Gary Pohlson, over the objection of prosecutors, reduced felony charges to misdemeanors and gave Souzer 160 days credit time served for attacking three correctional officers while he was incarcerated, the District Attorney's Office said.
Shortly after his release in January, Souzer was arrested by the Orange Police Department for spray painting graffiti on a freeway underpass underneath the Costa Mesa (55) Freeway in Orange and giving officers a false name.
Souzer previously made headlines in April 2022 when he freed himself of his electronic monitoring device and escaped custody in a halfway house in Santa Ana, prosecutors said.
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While in custody on the fatal stabbing, he was convicted in December 2021 for attacking the correctional officers and was ordered to wear the electronic monitor for the remainder of his sentence until it expired on July 9, 2023, City News reported.
In October 2023, prosecutors had objected to a three-year split sentence after Souzer was convicted by a jury of making and possessing a shank while in the jail. Instead of the three years in custody sentence prosecutors had argued for, Orange County Superior Court Judge Michael J. Cassidy sentenced Souzer to one year custody time and two years supervised release.
"My prosecutors have spent years and years trying to do everything they can to keep this violent criminal behind bars, and at every turn, the very judges who are elected to protect public safety have done little to do so and instead have given him break after break after break," said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer.
"This is not someone who deserves a break; he has turned every opportunity to turn over a new leaf into a new opportunity to break the law and defy law enforcement. He did not simply walk away and forget to check in with his probation officer. The second he was out of custody he set a plan in motion to flee to a foreign country in yet another attempt to escape the consequences of his actions.
" I am grateful for the tireless work of the men and women of the Orange County District Attorney's Office AB 109 Task Force, Organized Crime Unit and DMAT Team, as well as the Orange County Probation Department, the Santa Ana Police Department, the Anaheim Police Department, the Orange County Sheriff*s Department, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol and the Mexican authorities and for their collaboration and cooperation to once again track down this violent and dangerous threat to public safety," Spitzer said.
Souzer is again in custody in Orange County.
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