"We are extremely confident that we have the man who is responsible for the murders of all four homeless men in Orange County," Anaheim Police Chief John Welter said.
Police identified the man as Itzcoatl Ocampo, 23, of Yorba Linda.
Ocampo was being held at the Anaheim jail without bail after a homeless man, whom people who live in the area identified only as John, was stabbed to death behind a busy fast-food restaurant late Friday.
Police have been looking for one man believed to be a serial killer and have conducted roadblocks in Placentia and in Yorba Linda.
Detectives released grainy footage from a security camera showing a man dressed in black and "lying in wait" at the time of the first attack, which occurred Dec. 20.
That image became the primary lead in the investigation. Detectives were also searching for a white, four-door late-model Toyota Corolla.
The first attack claimed the life of James Patrick McGillivray, 53. On Dec. 28, Lloyd Middaugh, 42, was found dead near a riverbed trail in Anaheim. Two days later, Paulus Smit, 57, was killed outside the Yorba Linda city library.
Several witnesses reported an assault in progress, and officers arrived to find the homeless man dead near a trash bin in the restaurant parking lot. Witnesses followed a man who ran from the lot and led police to him, Anaheim police Sgt. Bob Dunn said.
"We were having dinner in the area and saw about 40 police cars scream into the parking lot. I ran over and hugged my friend, screaming, 'Please tell me it's not John!' But it was," Holland said, fighting back tears.
Police set up a large containment area at the crime scene in a search for the killer and scoured nearby neighborhoods, including a mobile home park, Dunn said.
A police bloodhound traced the scent from Ocampo's belongings back to the scene where the attack occurred, about 10 miles northeast of the Disneyland Resort, authorities said.
Ocampo, of nearby Yorba Linda, was being held without bail for suspicion of murder, Dunn said.
A task force of law enforcement officers from Anaheim, Placentia, Brea, the Orange County Sheriff's Department and the FBI had been formed to investigate the killings of the three other homeless men.
James Patrick McGillivray, 53, was killed near a shopping center in Placentia on Dec. 20; Lloyd Middaugh, 42, was found near a riverbed trail in Anaheim on Dec. 28; and Paulus Smit, 57, was killed outside a Yorba Linda library on Dec. 30.
Police and advocates have been urging those living on the streets to head inside or buddy up in the wake of the killings.
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