A man who was stabbed to death at his Napa home during an apparent burglary last week has been identified by the Napa County Sheriff's Office as 62-year-old Don Warner Buffington.
Sheriff's Capt. Tracey Stuart said Buffington was found dead in a home at 1190 Hayes St. on Friday afternoon.
Napa police said the suspect in the killing, Adrian Madrigal, 24, who was arrested Friday, is believed to have entered Buffington's home through an unlocked window sometime before 4 a.m. that day.
Police allege that Madrigal stabbed Buffington several times in the torso during a confrontation, and then left with jewelry and Buffington's vehicle, a black Chevrolet TrailBlazer.
A law enforcement officer stopped Madrigal, who was driving the TrailBlazer, in the parking lot of a hospital in Middletown in Lake County around 4 a.m. Friday, Napa police said.
The hospital had reported Madrigal as a suspicious person, but the Napa murder had not yet been discovered and Madrigal was released, police said.
Around 4 p.m. Friday, a California Highway Patrol officer stopped Madrigal in the TrailBlazer on state Highway 128 in the Lake Berryessa area for a traffic violation, police said.
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The TrailBlazer had no license plates and the CHP officer found jewelry inside the vehicle, Napa police said. The CHP officer then determined that the SUV was registered at the Hayes Street address and contacted Napa police.
Napa police and Napa County sheriff's deputies went to the home and saw blood smears on the back door, then found Buffington's body inside, police said.
Madrigal was questioned at the Napa Police Department and was arrested on suspicion of murder, robbery, burglary, vehicle theft and a violation of probation, police said.
Napa police Capt. Jeff Troendly said Madrigal was arrested in 2011 for assaulting police officers after he climbed to the top of a water tower off of Coombs Street in Napa and threw objects at the officers below.
He was convicted of assault and was sentenced, but was given credit for time served and was released on probation, Troendly said.
In April, Madrigal was arrested for shoplifting at the Kohl's department store in Napa, Troendly said.
Police are trying to determine whether Madrigal knew Buffington, who lived alone, Troendly said.
An autopsy is scheduled for Monday, Stuart said.
