Suspects arrested in 2018 murder of San Jose man during home invasion burglary

SAN JOSE — Police arrested two men accused of murdering a San Jose man while attempting to burglarize his home in 2018, the department announced Wednesday.

On June 21, 2018, 54-year-old Khanh Kieu was shot dead inside his home in Misty Glen Court in the city’s Sylvandale neighborhood. Surveillance footage from his next-door neighbor’s home showed a black older model Lexus sedan pull up to the home and three men are seen getting out of the car. The fatal shooting was not captured on video.

In a press release Wednesday, San Jose police said homicide detectives identified Milpitas resident Juvenal Arellano, 38, and Modesto resident Robert James Ascencio, 46, as suspects in Kieu’s murder. On July 14 arrested both Arellano and Ascencio and the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office formally filed murder charges against them, police said.

The motive and circumstances surrounding this incident were still under investigation, police said. Investigators were asking for the public’s assistance with any information that can lead to the identification and arrest of the third person seen in the surveillance video. 

Police were not able to disclose how investigators connected the men to the murder. Kieu left behind a wife and three young children. 

Anyone with information about the case was asked to contact Detective Sergeant Barragan #4106 or Detective Ramirez #4201 of the San José Police Department’s Homicide Unit via email: [email protected] and/or [email protected] or at 408-277-5283.