Posted on 10/22/2002 12:35:16 PM PDT by NewHampshireDuo
NEW YORK — Two Bronx livery cab drivers were shot dead by a gunman who was under the delusion that he was going to visit his girlfriend in Alaska, police said Monday. Roberto Carlos Mayen's deadly trip to see the apparently nonexistent woman ended Sunday morning after he entered Canada in a stolen car, lost his bearings and turned back into Maine, where he was arrested, said Joseph Reznick, the chief of Bronx detectives.
Mayen, 26, was charged Monday with transporting a stolen car across state lines. He remained in federal custody in Maine awaiting possible extradition to New York and further charges, officials said.
His court-appointed lawyer, Bruce Mallonee, said he could not discuss the case against Mayen, who did not seem confused when the two talked Monday.
"He was direct and polite and responsive," Mallonee said.
The former Marine is believed to have gunned down Joe Robles, 35, and Kleber Valencia, 29, after stealing a New Jersey couple's 2001 Audi A6 at gunpoint Saturday evening and driving it across the George Washington Bridge to the Bronx.
Police believe Robles shouted at Mayen to stop driving into incoming traffic in the Bruckner section that night. Mayen shot Robles at least eight times with a 9 mm Beretta, Reznick said.
Valencia was shot about 15 minutes later, around 7:45 p.m., after Mayen asked him where to find a gas station, Reznick said.
Mayen allegedly fled north to Maine, where he asked a police officer if he was in Anchorage, Alaska. The officer looked over his car, checked his identification, noted his license plate number and let him proceed to the border, where he sped through a checkpoint into Canada, Reznick said.
"Approximately two hours of driving into Canada, he says that he saw water to his right and a lot of land to his left," Reznick said. "He was lost, and he decided to simply make a U-turn and head back from where he came."
This time, Mayen was stopped well inside Maine, 550 miles from the Bronx, and was told to follow officials back to the border crossing, where he was arrested around 7:30 a.m., Reznick said.
Police said they found the Beretta, dozens of bullets and a rifle-cleaning kit in the Audi, to which Robles had attached the license plates from his 1997 Honda. The Honda may have run out of gas or suffered mechanical difficulty in New Jersey, Reznick said.
Mayen also had three martial-arts knives taped to his legs, police said.
Mayen was in the Marine Corps for three years and was honorably discharged in 1999. An initial background check found no prior criminal record, police said.
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