Crime witness who vanished on dog walk is found

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles police say a key witness in a burglary case who vanished while walking his dog has been found.

A police statement on Friday said 22-year-old Darwin Vela was located in the LAPD’s Pacific Division. Investigators are trying to determine what happened to him.

There’s no word on his condition.

Vela was supposed to be in court on Thursday to testify at a preliminary hearing for a man charged with burglarizing the home of the ex-girlfriend of actor Nicolas Cage.

Vela vanished Tuesday while walking his dog. His fiancé says the dog later returned home with blood on its leash.Police were investigating whether the target of the home theft was the purported Sheen sex tape.

Singer said Friday he was contacted by police about the case but was asked not to discuss it publicly. Sheen’s spokesman, Larry Solters, said he didn’t know anything about the case.

McLaren appeared at the hearing but didn’t testify, citing her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

A judge found there was enough evidence for Orozco to stand trial. He faces 25 years to life in prison because he has two prior robbery convictions, authorities said.

McLaren said she skipped the walk Tuesday night so she could shower but later went to the front door and found the dog crying and cowering alone. She was startled when she said she saw a six-inch smear of blood on the dog’s leash.

“It looked like the leash had been pulled through his hand,” she said.

McLaren said she immediately called 911 and has since been told by police that the blood is human. She said investigators are now trying to determine if the blood is Vela’s.

She declined to comment about the case against Orozco, a handyman who the couple knew, and called the details about the Sheen sex tape “all speculation.”

McLaren said no one has heard from Vela, who was recently unemployed, and his cellphone, wallet and keys were left at his home.

“He wouldn’t leave me, he wouldn’t leave his mother or his dog,” she said. “It’s not like him at all.”