What we know about Wesley Brownlee, arrested suspect in California serial killings
Wesley Brownlee, a 43-year-old resident of Stockton, was arrested Saturday as the prime suspect in a string of shooting deaths that left six people dead in Northern California.
Police announced Brownlee’s arrest after weeks of intense focus over the slayings, which were connected through ballistics evidence.
Here’s what we know about the serial killing suspect.
Who is Wesley Brownlee?
Brownlee is 43 and a longtime resident of Stockton, according to public records and the Stockton Police Department.
Brownlee was arrested during a traffic stop Saturday morning near Panella Park at Village Green Drive and Winslow Way. That area is close to a home where Brownlee lived between 1999 and 2007. This was also within 2 miles of the five fatal incidents in Stockton.
According to public records, an apartment near Knickerbocker Drive and Tam O’Shanter Drive was Wesley Brownlee’s last known address. It is within several feet of one of the killings, that of Jonathan Rodriguez on Aug. 30, the only person shot inside a vehicle.
What is Brownlee’s criminal history?
Stockton Police Chief Stanley McFadden said that Brownlee has a criminal record. A search of San Joaquin County court files shows that Brownlee was involved in at least four cases.
Brownlee was involved in a DUI in 2009. Online records from the San Joaquin Court were not available for the Stockton-area case.
Brownlee was involved in a felony case in 2017. Online records from the San Joaquin Court were not available for the Stockton-area case.
Brownlee was involved in a traffic infraction case in January 2021. Online records from the San Joaquin Court showed he was ordered to pay a fine of $327.
Brownlee was involved in a traffic infraction case in June 2022. Online records from the San Joaquin Court showed that case was proceeding and expected to return to a hearing on Dec. 20.
Online public records show Brownlee was involved in a traffic citation in Arizona in 2019 for failure to stop at a port of entry. Records from Bowie Justice Court in Cochise County show Brownlee pleaded guilty.
How is Brownlee connected to the killings?
Police have not given many details, but ballistics tests are said to link the killings to the same weapon.
The tests “interconnect” the six fatal shootings and the shooting of a homeless Stockton woman who was nearly killed more than a year ago, according to McFadden.
There was a 448-day break between killings of the second and third victims, but the gaps between victims became shorter thereafter: 34 days, 19 days, 22 days, then just six days.
“We have no reason why the pistol went dormant” for so long, McFadden said, adding that, initially, there wasn’t a clear pattern to the shootings although there is a “certain complexion” that Brownlee was targeting.
Is Brownlee connected to Chicago shootings?
No, according to police. Earlier this month, police told media outlets that they were working with multiple agencies to track down a suspect in the crimes. That work included collaboration with police in Chicago, who are investigating a similar pattern of killings there.
However, on Friday, police confirmed they did not believe there were any connections between the Stockton killings and several homicides in Illinois, which are believed to have been perpetrated by the so-called Duck Walk Killer.
According to CBS Sacramento, working with its sister station in Chicago, the suspects had similar gaits and appearance.
“We did our due diligence reaching out to Chicago PD based off the videos we have seen of their suspect. At this time though, we do not have anything linking the two investigations,” Stockton Police Department spokesman Officer Joseph Silva told Fox 40.
Who are the serial killer’s victims?
The San Joaquin County Office of the Medical Examiner identified the Stockton victims. Four of them were walking while one was killed while sitting in a car.
Paul Yaw, 35: Died July 8 when he was gunned down on the 5600 block of Kermit Lane around 12:30 a.m.
Salvador Debudey Jr., 43: Died Aug. 11 after being shot on the 4900 block of West Lane, just before 10 p.m.
Jonathan Hernandez Rodriguez, 21: Died Aug. 30 after he was shot on the 800 block of East Hammer Lane. He was discovered by residents in the complex just before 7 a.m.
Juan Cruz, 52: Died Sept. 21 after being gunned down in his car in an apartment complex on the 4400 block of Manchester Avenue about 4:30 a.m.
Lawrence Lopez Sr., 54: Died Sept. 27 after being shot on the 900 block of Porter Avenue about 2 a.m.
The first killing, however, targeted Juan Vasquez Serrano, 39, in Oakland about 4:15 a.m. on April 10, 2021. Brownlee’s connections to Oakland remain unknown.
Another victim is believed to be Natasha LaTour, a woman who was shot 10 times near the train tracks at Park and North Union streets on the night of April 16, 2021. She described the unprovoked attack to the 209 Times earlier this month.
The Bee’s Darrell Smith and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
