Random killing at I-5 gas station may have been part of spree starting in Oakland
A 21-year-old San Francisco man faces a murder charge in connection with what detectives described as the random killing of a truck driver at an Interstate 5 gas station.
He is also a possible suspect in an overnight crime spree extending from Oakland to Bakersfield.
The murder was discovered when Fresno County sheriff’s deputies were called at 7:30 a.m. Saturday to the E-Z Trip Travel Center in Avenal, 10 miles north of Kettleman City on I-5. They found 51-year-old Jose Madeira of Hesperia lying in the parking lot, dead of stab wounds.
The suspect was still at the gas station, and the deputies detained him.
Investigators told TV station KFSN that Madeira had given the suspect a ride to the gas station.
During the investigation, detectives learned the San Francisco man may have been involved in two carjackings and a robbery in the hours prior to the attack, in Oakland on Friday night and in Bakersfield on Saturday morning. The second carjacking resulted in injuries to the vehicle owner, who was taken to a hospital.
In addition, a man matching the suspect’s description was involved in a strong-arm robbery in Lost Hills, on I-5 40 miles south of the Avenal gas station.
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