Pair accused of plot in Fremont chef ’s death

A trove of recovered text messages, a suspicious wire transfer and $800,000 in life insurance policies have convinced police that Fremont chef Dominic Sarkar was killed in his sleep as a result of a murder-for-hire plot.

Alameda County prosecutors on Thursday charged Sarkar’s sometimes-domestic partner Maria Moore, 50, and Marvel Salvant, 46, with murder. They added special circumstances for both — murder for financial gain and murder by lying in wait — making them eligible for the death penalty if convicted.

Sarkar was asleep in his bed at about 12:30 a.m. Oct. 8 when an intruder made his way into the Charleston Way home and shot the 56year-old man several times before fleeing.

Police immediately suspected that the slaying was targeted. None of Sarkar’s roommates was assaulted, and it didn’t appear any valuables were missing from the residence, according to a probable cause document filed by police.

Just after the shooting, a neighbor witnessed a man running from the residence and getting on a bicycle, according to the report. Police pieced this together with nearby surveillance footage that showed a man bicycling toward the residence and later riding toward a Subaru Outback, entering the car and driving away.

Earlier footage showed the same Outback circling the area near Sarkar’s residence just before the shooting, “as if casing the location,” police wrote in the report.

Moore spoke with Fremont police investigators on Oct. 9 and acknowledged that she was the beneficiary of two life insurance policies Sarkar had, records show.

One of the policies, investigators found, was purchased in April 2016 and had a payout of $500,000. Moore was listed then as Sarkar’s domestic partner and the primary beneficiary, while two of Sarkar’s daughters were named as contingent beneficiaries.

Sarkar purchased a second policy 2017 worth an additional $300,000. This one initially listed Sarkar’s three daughters as beneficiaries but was later modified “under suspicious circumstances” to remove Sarkar’s daughters and list Moore as the primary beneficiary, according to court records.

As a result, Moore was the primary beneficiary on both policies and stood to gain $800,000 should Sarkar die.

During her police interview, Moore denied that she had given money to anyone recently. She also denied that she had recently deleted anything from her phone.

Both of these statements are untrue, according to investigators. Court records show that they found Moore had wired $500 to Salvant via Western Union a month before the killing and that she deleted several text messages between her and Salvant before visiting the police station.

Police obtained what they described as “extensive cell phone records,” which revealed the deleted messages before and after Sarkar’s death.

“It’s just a waiting game,” Salvant texted Moore days before the shooting.

“I am set to do everything tonight,” he messaged the morning before Sarkar’s death.

Moore visited Sarkar the day before the slaying and called Salvant after she left.

Five minutes after the killing, Salvant messaged Moore asking whether she could talk, which they did later that morning.

Officers were able to record a clandestine Nov. 15 meeting between the two in a Redwood City parking lot, where police said Salvant was hoping to receive a payout from the insurance policy, according to court records.

The two later began communicating through an app that encrypts messages, police said, and in a Dec. 5 message string Moore told Salvant everything would be wrapped up before Christmas.

“I will be so happy,” he replied.

The two were arrested Tuesday and booked into Alameda County jail.