Trial Date Set For Man Accused Of Fatally Stabbing Lake Elsinore Resident

MURRIETA, CA — A Jan. 9 trial date was confirmed Friday for an itinerant accused of fatally stabbing a 41-year-old Lake Elsinore man during a confrontation in a business center parking lot.

Steven James Smith, 51, was arrested last summer following a Riverside County Sheriff's Department investigation into the slaying of Fabian Rodriguez.

Along with murder, Smith is charged with a sentence-enhancing allegation of using a deadly weapon -- a knife -- in the commission of a felony.

During a status hearing at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta Friday, Superior Court Judge Joshua Knight conferred with the prosecution and defense regarding scheduling options for trial proceedings, and both sides agreed to be prepared to move forward in the first half of January.

Smith is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the nearby Byrd Detention Center.

He allegedly killed Rodriguez during an attack in the 31000 block of Riverside Drive, near Lakeshore Drive.

According to sheriff's Sgt. Jarred Bishop, on the night of July 22, 2024, patrol deputies were called to the location, which is surrounded on all sides by venues that share a parking lot, to investigate reports of an assault and discovered Rodriguez suffering from "several stab wounds."

Paramedics arrived minutes later and attempted life-saving measures, but the victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

"Deputies developed suspect information and a direction of travel in which he fled after the stabbing," Bishop said. "The suspect was soon located fleeing into an apartment complex in the 16000 block of Joy Street."

Smith was taken into custody without incident inside the complex a few hours later.

A possible motive for the alleged attack wasn't disclosed, and it was unclear whether the defendant and the victim were acquainted.

Court records indicated that Smith has unresolved misdemeanor cases pending for brandishing a deadly weapon and trespassing.