Elizabeth Larson – Record-Bee staff
UKIAH ? Local authorities helped Sacramento Police quickly track down a murder suspect last month who had evaded valley authorities for nearly two months as he fled across several counties.
On May 15, the Sacramento Police Department contacted Lake County Sheriff”s detectives regarding a wanted 17-year-old male murder suspect and his 16-year-old girlfriend, said LCSO Sgt. Mike Morshed.
The teenage male, Edwin Stevenson ? who Sacramento Police said was a gang member ? allegedly attended a party in the downtown Sacramento area on March 26 at the home of Hector Manuel Barrera, 25.
At the party, Stevenson reportedly got into a fight with Barrera. After losing the fight, police reported that an upset Stevenson left the party and returned a short time later with five other gang members, who brought firearms with them.
Stevenson allegedly found Barrera and shot him in the head with an M1 30 caliber rifle, while another gang member fired numerous rounds from a 45 ACP handgun.
Barrera died of multiple gunshot wounds at the scene, according to a Sacramento Police report.
Within a few days, Sacramento Police had arrested five suspects ? three adults and two juveniles, ranging in age from 14 to 26 ? in connection with the case. In addition, police investigators recovered three firearms believed to have been used in Barrera”s shooting.
Still, they hadn”t found Stevenson, and eventually obtained information that he and his 16-year-old girlfriend ? who also had a felony warrant out for her arrest ? had fled the area.
LCSO detectives received information that the two teens were hiding in a residence just outside the Lakeport city limits. While conducting surveillance on the residence, detectives believed they had identified Stevenson getting into a van that was leaving.
Several law enforcement agencies helped LCSO conduct a high-risk vehicle stop, but they didn”t find Stevenson in the van.
However, the stop proved fruitful in another way: Detectives found out through speaking with the vehicle”s inhabitants that the wanted teens had been at the Lakeport residence for the previous five days and nights but had left the night before. The witnesses told police they didn”t know where the teens had gone.
The break in the case came shortly thereafter, when police were able to track the pair through cellular phone records, coming up with a number listed to a Ukiah address.
On May 16 ? only a day after receiving the initial information about the fugitive pair ? sheriff”s detectives, along with Ukiah Police and agents with the Mendocino Narcotics Task Force, went to the Mulberry Street address, believing the teens to be there.
Their suspicions were correct: Police found the teenage suspects hiding in the apartment, and arrested Stevenson and his girlfriend without incident.
The 16-year-old girl was booked into the Mendocino County Juvenile Hall, while Stevenson was transported back to Sacramento by Sacramento Police detectives who responded after learning of the arrests.
Contact Elizabeth Larson at elarson@record-bee.com.
Cameron Jahn of the Sacramento Bee helped the Record-Bee compile information for this report.
