Suspect arrested in 2020 killing

RIVERSIDE >> A man suspected in a homicide behind Bordwell Park in Riverside in 2020 was taken into custody Saturday.

A 17-monthslong investigation led detectives to identify 50-year-old Arthur Lawrence Akins III as the suspect in the shooting death, Riverside police said in a statement.

Akins was arrested by

Metro and SWAT teams at an apartment on El Cerrito Avenue in Riverside, police said. He was booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center for suspicion of murder and weapons violations and was being held on $1 million bail.

Cedric Omarr Dempsey, 32, was found dead from a gunshot wound to the head behind the park in the 2000 block of Martin Luther King Boulevard on Dec. 22, 2020, police said.

Police did not immediately say what led them to suspect Akins as the culprit.

The investigation is ongoing and detectives asked anyone with information to contact Detective Bryon Adcox at 951353-7134 or jadcoxriversideca.gov, or Detective Trevor Childers at 951353-7130 or TChildersRiversideCA.gov