Two Charged with Murder of ‘General Hospital’ Star Johnny Wactor

Arrests Made in Wactor Murder Case

Two men have been charged with the mur­der of “Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal” star John­ny Wac­tor, who was shot and killed in Los Ange­les in May 2024. The Los Ange­les Coun­ty Dis­trict Attor­ney’s Office announced the charges on Monday.

Suspects Charged

Pros­e­cu­tors say 18-year-olds Robert Barce­leau and Ser­gio Estra­da have been charged with Wac­tor’s mur­der. Barce­leau’s charge includes a spe­cial cir­cum­stance alle­ga­tion of mur­der dur­ing an attempt­ed rob­bery, which could result in life in prison with­out parole.

Attempted Robbery Gone Wrong

Accord­ing to author­i­ties, Wac­tor was approached by a group of peo­ple attempt­ing to steal his cat­alyt­ic con­vert­er as he was leav­ing his job as a bar­tender in down­town LA. Pros­e­cu­tors allege that Barce­leau shot Wac­tor in the chest dur­ing the attempt­ed robbery.

Additional Suspects Charged

Two oth­er sus­pects, 19-year-old Leonel Gutier­rez and 22-year-old Frank Olano, have also been charged in con­nec­tion with the case. Gutier­rez is fac­ing attempt­ed rob­bery and grand theft charges, while Olano is charged with acces­so­ry after the fact to mur­der, receiv­ing stolen prop­er­ty, and being a felon in pos­ses­sion of a firearm.

Seeking Justice for Wactor

The mur­der charges are a sig­nif­i­cant devel­op­ment in the case, but Wac­tor’s cowork­er has stat­ed that his fam­i­ly will not find peace until there are con­vic­tions in the case. 

The inves­ti­ga­tion and legal pro­ceed­ings will con­tin­ue to deter­mine the full extent of the sus­pects’ involve­ment and their ulti­mate fates.