18 Years After Boy's Killing, Lake Elsinore Man Arrested

LAKE ELSINORE, CA — A murder charge is expected to be filed this week against a Lake Elsinore man who is accused of killing a teen boy nearly 18 years ago.

Vincent Edward Gonzales, who is now 37 years old, was arrested by sheriff's deputies on Cypress Circle in Lake Elsinore just after 11 a.m. Friday, March 28, jail records show. The arrest location is a residential street in the Alberhill Ranch community.

Gonzales is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at Riverside's Robert Presley Detention Center. He was booked on suspicion of murder and vandalism and is due in court Wednesday, according to jail records.

Gonzales's arrest came as part of an investigation that began two decades ago. On May 5, 2007, sheriff's deputies responded to a 911 call about shots fired in a dirt field in the 23000 block of Sunnymead Boulevard in Moreno Valley.

When deputies arrived, they found a wounded teen boy, later identified as 15-year-old Clyvaughn Mallet. The child was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead as a result of gunshot wounds, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.

The shooter was not found.

"Unfortunately, after several years of investigation, the case went cold without an arrest," the sheriff's department said.

In 2024, however, investigators with the sheriff department's Central Homicide Unit were tasked with reviewing cold homicide investigations. Among the cases they took up was the Clyvaughn Mallet file.

"This review identified new evidence, and the investigation was reopened," according to Tuesday's arrest announcement.

The sheriff's department did not disclose what led investigators to Gonzales, who would have been 19 at the time of the slaying.

In the days following Clyvaughn's killing, the news outlet Black Voice News chronicled the violence. According to its reporting, the teen was beaten and shot in the head, and "a pack of men" were seen fleeing the scene.

The boy was "walking to the store when he saw a bunch of guys in a car," BVN reported. "He ran the other way to get to a relative’s house and tried to jump over a fence but was pulled down stomped and beaten and then shot in the back of the head."

The news outlet reported that Clyvaughn was a Moreno Valley resident who attended Creekside Elementary School, then Mountain View Middle School, and was a 9th grader and football player at Moreno Valley High School before being transferred to Bayside Community Day School.

The sheriff's department did not disclose a possible motive for the killing, and it's unclear whether the suspect and victim knew each other.

According to the sheriff's department, the investigation is currently ongoing. Anyone with information regarding the case is asked to call Investigator Dan Brown of the Central Homicide Unit at 951-955-2777.