AP

ANAHEIM POLICE detained a man in connection with the latest stabbing death of a homeless man in southern California as a task force investigated if there were any links to the slayings of three other homeless men, believed to be the work of a serial killer.

The dead man was found between 8 pm and 9 pm on Friday near a fast-food restaurant in Anaheim, police said.

Witnesses followed a man who ran from the restaurant parking lot and led police to him, Anaheim police Deputy Chief Craig Hunter told the Orange County Register. Police set up a massive containment area at the crime scene in a search for the killer and scoured nearby neighbourhoods, the Los Angeles Times reported.

A task force of law enforcement officers from Anaheim, Placentia, Brea, Orange County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI was formed to investigate the killings of three other homeless men found stabbed to death in north Orange County since mid-December.