GPS aids in investigation of Treasure Island slaying
Amir Alkhraisat had been missing for nine days when police responded on Jan. 18 to an isolated industrial stretch of Treasure Island, where a body was found burned beyond recognition.
A gold watch matching one Alkhraisat had worn was discovered among the ashes, but it would take five more days before the medical examiner could confirm the remains were those of the 20yearold San Francisco resident.
Danilo Barraza, 21, of San Francisco, now faces a murder charge after video footage, phone records and a GPS tracking device linked him to the grisly slaying.
Court documents filed this week reveal how Alkhraisat spent his final moments before he was shot and set on fire, and they track the movements of the suspect as he came and went from the crime scene.
Alkhraisat graduated in 2017 from Sacred
Heart Cathedral Preparatory High School in San Francisco, where he was a gifted soccer player. He had attended Skyline College and was planning to transfer to City College before he was last seen by friends on Jan. 8. His parents reported him missing the following day.
The parents reported rumors to police that Barraza and another man had killed their son and thrown him off the Bay Bridge.
On Jan. 18, police responded to reports of a body on the 400 block of Avenue M on Treasure Island.
The burned human remains were discovered inside a large blue plastic container in a “desolate bunker,” court records state. Though the body was unrecognizable, police also recovered the partially burned gold watch that matched one Alkhraisat wore.
The San Francisco medical examiner would later find a bullet in Alkhraisat’s body.
Police were already well into their investigation of Barraza by the time Alkhraisat’s body was discovered.
Officers had contacted the suspect at his San Francisco home after speaking to Alkhraisat’s parents, and Barraza acknowledged seeing Alkhraisat on the afternoon he disappeared, records show.
Barraza told police he and Alkhraisat had left a mutual friend’s home on the 800 block of Hampshire Street to drive to Oakland, where they planned to eat at the Flip N Soul restaurant. At the time, Barraza said, he was driving a Mazda from Turo, a carsharing company that allows people to rent their personal vehicles.
Barraza said somewhere along the way Alkhraisat received a phone call that appeared to upset him, records show. Barraza said Alkhraisat asked to get out of the car, and that Barraza dropped him off near Ninth and Bryant streets in San Francisco.
Authorities said Barraza told them he never made it to Oakland, and instead went to Red’s Java House on Pier 30 to smoke by himself.
But the suspect’s story started falling apart by Jan. 17, when police reviewed Alkhraisat’s phone records, according to court records. Alkhraisat received no phone calls in the time frame Barraza purportedly dropped him off on Jan. 8, and the phone was turned off by 2:49 p.m.
Investigators also tracked down the Mazda through Turo officials, who confirmed that Barraza had rented it on Jan. 7 and returned it a day late on Jan. 9. Also of note, they said: Barraza had replaced a window before returning it.
San Francisco police investigators processed the Mazda on Jan. 18, the same day Alkhraisat’s remains were discovered. They confirmed that a large stain on the front passenger seat and headrest was, in fact, blood. Police also noted that the rear passenger window differed from the other windows.
On Jan. 21, police reviewed video footage from multiple sources and pieced together a timeline of the victim’s last moments.
Consistent with Barraza’s statement, police said, he and Alkhraisat were seen leaving the Hampshire Street home at 1:31 p.m. Jan. 8, before driving in the Mazda.
But the footage soon begins to contradict Barraza’s account, police said. The car is seen traveling eastbound on the Bay Bridge and then exiting at Treasure Island at about 1:50 p.m. On the bridge, cameras captured a figure matching Alkhraisat in the front passenger seat. The rear passenger window appears intact.
After exiting onto Treasure Island, police said, the Mazda is seen traveling northbound on Clipper Cove Way, heading toward the area where Alkhraisat’s body would be discovered 10 days later.
Investigators said the Mazda reappears about a half hour later at 2:24 p.m., traveling southbound on Clipper Cove Way away from the crime scene. By 2:25 p.m., the car stops at a convenience store on Treasure Island, where the rear passenger window now appears to be broken.
Barraza is seen getting in and out of the passenger side of the car for about 11 minutes before driving away toward the Bay Bridge onramp, court records state.
The last time the Mazda is seen on the Bay Bridge, it’s heading westbound toward San Francisco. “Only the driver’s seat appears to be occupied,” court records state.
A GPS tracker on the Mazda placed the vehicle within feet of the crime scene, and it showed that the car was turned off for 36 minutes at the time, police said.
On Jan. 23, officers who had been trailing Barraza were notified that the suspect had left his residence carrying two bags and was headed toward San Francisco International Airport. He was arrested in the international terminal.
While in custody, Barraza waived his Miranda rights and told police that his guns had been swiped in a recent burglary, police said.
Barraza stood by his account of dropping off Alkhraisat on Ninth and Bryant streets. He later admitted to being on Treasure Island after being shown photos of himself there, police said, but he denied being there with Alkhraisat.
He said he purchased paper towels and Windex to wipe bird droppings off the windshield, and clean up ketchup in the car’s interior.
Details of the investigation were released as part of a prosecutor’s motion to hold Barraza without bail. Barraza faces a gun enhancement charge along with the murder charge.
He is scheduled for arraignment Feb. 13. Barraza faces 50 years to life if convicted.