Alleged Stockton serial killer Wesley Brownlee faces four new murder charges

Prosecutors have tied accused Stockton serial killer Wesley Brownlee to four more slayings in Alameda and San Joaquin counties bringing the death toll to seven.

San Joaquin County District Attorney’s prosecutors filed the new murder charges Tuesday in Stockton two months after 43-year-old Brownlee’s arrest in a string of deadly shootings that shook the city. Brownlee was formally charged in October in San Joaquin Superior Court with three counts of murder in the deaths of Jonathan Hernandez Rodriguez, 21, killed Aug. 30; Juan Cruz, 52, slain Sept. 21;, and Lawrence Lopez Sr., 54, shot dead Sept. 27.

But San Joaquin County District Attorney’s officials after Brownlee’s October arraignment remarked on the speed of their investigation and promised more charges to come.

Prosecutors in the new 11-page complaint filed Tuesday say Brownlee fatally shot each of the victims: Juan Alexander Vasquez, 39, and Mervin Harmon gunned down days apart in April 2021. Vasquez was killed April 10 in Oakland; Harmon, six days later on April 16, 2021.

That same day, April 16, 2021, Natasha Latour, was shot 10 times as she camped alongside rail tracks in downtown Stockton. She somehow survived and has since detailed the violent attack.

Prosecutors on Tuesday also added Latour’s attempted murder to their new list of charges.

Two more murders would follow. On July 8, San Joaquin authorities say Brownlee struck again, this time shooting dead Paul Alexander Yaw, 35, in Stockton. Another victim fell in August. Salvador William Debudey Jr., 43, was shot and killed in Stockton.

Stockton, San Joaquin and later federal investigators worked for months to pin down the shadowy figure captured only on surveillance footage and found their big break in October when ballistics tests tied a single weapon to the killings. More tips came in from residents who saw the security cameras images showing the man later identified as Brownlee.

Brownlee was arrested in October during a traffic stop near Stockton’s Panella Park, close to a home where Brownlee once lived and within a couple of miles of five of the deadly Stockton shootings.

Brownlee returns Jan. 3 to San Joaquin Superior Court for further arraignment.