Public Safety

Mexican Authorities Make Arrest In San Diego Teacher's Death

By Amy Isackson / Border Reporter

Published February 16, 2011 at 2:09 PM PST

This story was published more than 13 years ago.

San Diego college instructor Henry Acejo, 45, was stabbed to death in his Tijuana apartment.

Mexican Authorities Make Arrest In San Diego Teacher's Death

Baja Calfiornia's Attorney General said a San Diego professor, Henry Acejo, killed in Tijuana last December, was the victim of a crime of passion.

Baja Calfiornia's Attorney General said a San Diego professor, Henry Acejo, killed in Tijuana last December, was the victim of a crime of passion.

A press release from the Attorney General's office says they've taken a 17-year-old boy into custody and that the boy stabbed the Acejo, 45, during a fight.

The release says the two met last September when the boy worked at a restaurant and Acejo left good tips.

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Acejo taught Tagalog at Southwestern College and at San Diego State University.

Shortly after his death, the director of SDSU's Arabic language department said it was an immense loss because he was a popular instructor and dedicated to his students.

Acejo's friends say he lived in Tijuana to save money so he could send home more to his family in the Phillippines.

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Public Safety Tijuana College

Amy Isackson

Amy Isackson was the border reporter at KPBS from 2004 to 2011. She covered breaking news and feature stories on California-Mexico border issues and immigration, for local and national broadcast. Amy got her start in public radio by pitching a series of stories about rural New Zealand - horse dentistry and sheep sheering - to Radio New Zealand's "Country Life" program. She then worked with Peabody Award-winning radio producers Nikki Silva and Davia Nelson, to help create the Sonic Memorial, a series of stories on the World Trade Center before, during and after 9/11. Amy's work has been recognized with awards from the Associated Press Television-Radio Association of California and Nevada, the California Chicano News Media Association, and the San Diego Press Club. She won the Sol Price Prize for Responsible Journalism in 2009 from the Society of Professional Journalists for her story about high school students smuggling people and drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border. Prior to venturing into the wonderful world of public radio, Amy worked for Yahoo! Inc. for nearly five years as an editorial surfer, associate producer and broadcast communications manager. She majored in Latin American History at Williams College. She grew up in San Diego and made frequent trips south of the border.

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