Gun used in Bay Area killings had been stolen
Police say suspects took the weapon from an unlocked car and used it in two attacks.
A gun used to kill a tantra yoga teacher and a Canadian tourist in separate incidents in the Bay Area was stolen from a car in a Fisherman’s Wharf neighborhood, police said.
San Francisco police Lt. Toney Chaplin told reporters the gun was taken from an unlocked car and later used to kill 23-year-old Audrey Carey of Quebec and Steve Carter.
Police believe the killings were motivated by robbery.
Property belonging to Carey was found with three suspects when they were taken into custody in Portland, Ore., on Wednesday, police said.
Morrison Lampley, 23; Sean Angold, 24; and Lila Alligood, 18, will face robbery and murder charges in connection with Carey’s death, San Francisco police said.
Carey was on a solo backpacking trip and had planned to visit Europe when her journey was abruptly cut short, her uncle told the San Francisco Chronicle.
She was found lying facedown in Golden Gate Park on Saturday by a passerby after the first day of a weekend bluegrass festival. Paramedics declared Carey dead at the scene and coroner’s investigators ruled her death a homicide.
Police on Thursday were pleading for the public’s help for any information about her death.
Hours later, San Francisco police announced that Carey’s death and the slaying of yoga teacher Steve Carter in rural Marin County were linked.
Both slayings occurred in wooded or park areas and were similar, police said.
Carter, 67, was shot sometime before 6 p.m. Monday on a dusty hiking trail in Fairfax, an unincorporated part of the county, Marin County sheriff’s Lt. Doug Pittman said. He was on his daily hike with his Doberman pinscher when someone shot him several times in the head. His dog also was shot but survived.
Carter was a tantra yoga teacher who, until last year, worked with his wife, Lokita, teaching thousands of couples and single men and women in the U.S. and Central America. He and his wife had retired to Costa Rica but returned to Marin County this year after she was diagnosed with aggressive cancer. They were staying with friends when Carter was killed, Pittman said.
A GoFundMe account created after Carter’s death has raised nearly $70,000 to help pay for Lokita’s medical care.
Detectives’ investigation into Carter’s death led them to a gas station where video showed the three suspects fueling Carter’s car about 30 minutes after he was believed to have been shot.
investigators used GPS to track Carter’s stolen car to Portland and alerted officers in the area.
The three were arrested by 2 p.m. that day. During the arrest, Portland police recovered a handgun detectives believe was used in the killing.
None of the three had California IDs or permanent addresses. Local media described them as drifters, but Pittman said a more accurate term would be “lost souls” who wanted to live off the grid.