Fairfield Double Murder Suspect Arrested In Los Angeles
FAIRFIELD (CBS SF) - A suspect in a double murder in Fairfield in March was arrested in Los Angeles on Tuesday, a Fairfield police lieutenant said Thursday.
Marcel Rutherford Chew, 18, of East Palo Alto, was wanted for the murders of Vedell Jamar Chew, 24, of Fairfield, and Bernard Francis Knight, 18, of East Palo Alto, in a shooting on El Toro Court in the Parkway Gardens neighborhood of Fairfield on March 7, Lt. Greg Hurlbut said.
Police allege that the two victims were Marcel Chew's co-conspirators in a planned drug robbery, and although he didn't shoot them himself, he has been charged with their murders under the state's felony murder rule because he was allegedly involved in a crime that resulted in their deaths.
Rutherford Chew is a cousin of victim Vedell Jamar Chew.
At the time of the shooting, the victims were in a vehicle with Chew and 22-year-old Darren Trahan, of East Palo Alto, Hurlbut said.
Hurlbut said all four allegedly planned to rob 21-year-old Blake Johnson, of Vallejo, during a drug transaction.
Johnson, who was in a parking lot, allegedly fired at the four men in the car. He was arrested for the two murders but is now a witness against Chew, Hurlbut said.
Chew and Trahan surrendered to police on March 10 but were released three days later when the Solano County District Attorney's Office filed an "intent not to prosecute pending further investigation" document in Solano County Superior Court.
Fairfield police then obtained an arrest warrant for Chew a week after his release.
Fairfield police and the U.S. Marshals Service arrested Chew without incident at a home in Van Nuys Tuesday around noon. He was scheduled to be arraigned Thursday afternoon in Solano County Superior Court.
Trahan has not been charged in the case.
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