O.C. man charged with murdering his college sweetheart

Orange County prosecutors say a Laguna Hills man accused of fatally stabbing his girlfriend and fleeing to Arizona has been charged with murder.

Derek Pinski Murder Suspect

Hours after 24-year-old Alexandra Tang was found dead with multiple stab wounds, her boyfriend, Derek Henry Pinski, was arrested outside his father’s home in Mesa, Ariz.

Pinski, also 24, now faces a felony count of murder with a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a deadly weapon, according to a statement from the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Prosecutors said Tang met Pinski when they were students at UC Santa Barbara and that she continued to live in Santa Barbara. Tang, authorities said, was in Orange County to visit Pinski at the home he shared with his mother and a renter.

Prosecutors allege that Pinski stabbed Tang inside the home at about 10:30 a.m. Saturday, then fled to Arizona. Tang’s body was discovered by Pinski’s mother, who called authorities. Tang was pronounced dead at the scene.

By about 8 p.m., Pinski had been arrested by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department.

The process to extradite Pinski to Orange County has been started by the county’s district attorney’s office, which said it will ask that Pinski to be held on $1 million bail.

UPDATE, SEPT. 4, 12:59 P.M.: According to a statement sent this afternoon by the OCDA, the slain Alexandra Joyce Tang and murder suspect Derek Henry Pinski were girlfriend and boyfriend at the school they attended, UC Santa Barbara.

Tang was still living in Santa Barbara when she came to Laguna Hills recently to visit Pinski, who was staying at the home of his mother and a renter, according to the OCDA, which notes the mother first discovered Tang’s body and called 9-1-1.

Pinski was believed to have fled the scene for Mesa, Arizona, where his father resides, states the OCDA, which adds the suspect was arrested around 8 p.m. Saturday at his father’s home by the Maricopa County sheriff’s deputies.

The OCDA today charged Pinski with one felony count of murder with a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a deadly weapon. He faces a maximum sentence of 26 years to life in state prison if convicted.

Once Pinski is extradited back to Orange County to face the charges, the OCDA will request his bail be set at $1 million, according to prosecutors.

The Orange County sheriff’s homicide investigation continues. Recently honored veteran homicide prosecutor Ebrahim Baytieh has been assigned the case.

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