Fremont man kills registered sex offender in targeted stabbing, investigators say
Fremont police are investigating how a registered sex offender was targeted and stabbed to death.
Police say last Thursday, a 29-year-old suspect showed up outside the 71-year-old man's home on Solstice Court. ABC7 News is not identifying the suspect until he is arraigned.
Court documents say the stabbing victim was David Brimmer.
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The Megan's Law website shows a man named David Brimmer living on the cul-de-sac where the stabbing happened. Brimmer was convicted of several sex crimes against children in 1995. ABC7 News covered his case at the time - Brimmer was a pastor at a popular San Jose church.
We spoke with attorney Roland Soltesz, Senior Partner at the Law Offices of William V. Pernik about the Megan's Law website, which makes information of registered sex offenders available to the public.
"They're like sitting ducks in so many ways in fact, I'm shocked that we don't hear more of these types of offenses out there," Soltesz said.
Investigators say the suspect in the case used the site to find his victim.
"He told the police he was looking for sex offenders and people who were elderly, which means he was cognizant of the fact that someone couldn't fight back and they're particularly vulnerable," Soltesz said.
According to our media partners at The Bay Area News Group, the suspect posed as an accountant and went door-to-door before arriving at Brimmer's home. According to records, the suspect said he "sought someone 'worthy' of being killed, believing that the worse their original crime, the more justified the murder."
Fremont police say it was a violent struggle. The suspect had chased Brimmer into another home.
"He's young, he's preying after (someone who is) 71 - there's something going on in that guy's head. I guarantee you that there's going to be significant psychological evaluations done, I mean he's being charged with capital murder," Soltesz said.
ABC7 News spoke with Jo-Anna Nieves, a criminal defense lawyer based in Oakland and owner of Nieves Law Firm.
"I know that there's this feeling, this emotionally satisfying feeling when you hear somebody has been punished in a way for doing something to such a vulnerable population like we talked about a child, but at the same time it's just legally unsustainable and we have to follow the rule of law," Nieves said.
On Tuesday, ABC7 News went to Brimmer's cul-de-sac to speak with his neighbors. No one opened their doors.
