Transient convicted in Anaheim motel murder, kidnapping

A transient was convicted Thursday of gunning a man down at an Anaheim motel and kidnapping a woman.

A Santa Ana jury found Luke Lampers, 38, guilty of murder for the 2017 killing of 49-year-old Douglas Navarro. Jurors also determined that Lampers discharged a firearm during the slaying, and that it occurred during the commission of a kidnapping.

Lampers shot Navarro to death during an argument at the Crystal Inn on Lincoln Avenue, just east of Brookhurst Street. He then kidnapped Brianne Deese, a former girlfriend, and spent a week on the run from police.

A witness told investigators that the day before the shooting, Lampers showed up at the motel, telling people that he was looking for his girlfriend because he wanted to take her to rehab, according to a transcript from a 2017 preliminary hearing.

The same witness told police that the next day she learned Lampers had kicked in a door at the motel and dragged a woman out. Deese would later tell detectives that Lampers, who she had broken up with a week prior, had pulled her out by her hair, according to court records.

Navarro, who lived at the motel with his mother, was helping to fix the broken door when Lampers returned with a “hysterical” Deese, according to court records. The two men argued over whether Deese could enter the motel room to get her belongings, since it was rented under another person’s name.

Lampers shot Navarro, then forced Deese into his vehicle at gunpoint, telling her “you made me murder somebody,” according to the court transcript.

The manhunt for Lampers ended on Jan. 19 in Old Town San Diego, at a motel in the 4000 block of Taylor Street. Anaheim and San Diego officers spotted him in a parking lot, and a brief foot pursuit ensued, according to police.

Police shot Lampers and took him into custody.

Lampers is scheduled to return to court for sentencing on Nov. 8. He faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole.