Second man arrested in Scottsdale slaying

Scottsdale police made a second arrest Monday in connection to the homicide investigation of Travis Hartline-Seffern, whose body was found shot multiple times in a parking lot of a strip mall last week.

After serving a search warrant at a west Valley residence, detectives arrested Jose A. Quintero-Figueroa, 30, on suspicion of first-degree murder, said Shawn Sanders, Scottsdale Police Department spokeswoman.

Scottsdale police arrested Thomas Bastian, 29, near his Mesa residence early Saturday on suspicion of a parole violation in a matter unrelated to the homicide, but officers gathered enough evidence to connect him to Hartline-Seffern’s death, Sanders said. Bastian also is being held on suspicion of first-degree murder, police said.

A third man suspected in Hartline-Seffern’s death, John Scott Hartline-Seffern, who called the victim his stepson despite the fact the two weren’t related by blood or marriage, died from a self-inflicted knife wound shortly after 10 p.m. Saturday when officers tried to execute a search warrant at his Mesa apartment.

Police theorize the arrested men were part of a conspiracy to kill Hartline-Seffern, 26, but investigators have not released a motive.

“They are co-conspirators in the murder of Travis Hartline-Seffern, through what they’ve said to police in interviews,” Sanders said. “Hopefully, we’ll have more details in the investigation tomorrow . Detectives are still interrogating Jose (Quintero-Figueroa). What the detectives are still working on is a process of elimination when it comes to a motive. Progress is being made.”

Bastian and Quintero are the only suspects at this time, Sanders said.

John Scott Hartline-Seffern, 46, told police he discovered Travis Hartline-Seffern’s body about 5:45 a.m. Friday in a parking lot between an adult video store and a payday loan business near Thomas and Scottsdale roads. The two, who ran Phoenix-based ABO Asphalt, arrived to clean to lot.

John Scott Hartline-Seffern told police he left to buy the two coffee before returning and finding the body. Police received a call of gunshots fired in the area about 5:15 a.m.

Bastian lived with John Scott Hartline-Seffern at an apartment near Fiesta Mall in Mesa. Both spent prison time in Florence with Travis Hartline-Seffern for various offenses, according to information from the Arizona Department of Corrections.