On Tuesday night, the Pleasant Hill Police received a call from authorities in Hercules saying a suspected murderer might be in Pleasant Hill.
Police investigated, and found the suspect.
Lt. Dan Connelly tells us the rest of the story….
On August 31, 2010, at about 7:40 pm the Pleasant Hill Police Department received information from the Hercules PD that a murder suspect, Efren Valdemoro, may be in the 100 block area of Cleaveland Road in Pleasant Hill.
Officers were told that the suspect may be driving a blue Acura and that he may also have a kidnap victim with him in the car.
When officers arrived, they began a search of the area. A short time later, officers located the vehicle in an apartment complex parking lot. As officers approached the vehicle, it backed out of a parking stall and began to drive away.
One officer fired one shot from a shotgun to disable the tires. The left rear tire was disabled but the suspect continued to flee the area in the vehicle. Officers could see that there was a female sitting in the front seat.
Officers pursued the vehicle south on to I680 at speeds of 80 -90 miles per hour. When the pursuit reached the interchange with I580, the CHP took over and officers from PHPD discontinued their pursuit of the suspect.
No one was injured during the incident in Pleasant Hill and investigators are trying to determine what, if any, ties Valdemoro had to Pleasant Hill.
The suspect was shot dead after the chase ended in the City of Richmond, and since then, authorities have discovered several dead bodies, and have linked the suspect to four murders throughout the Bay Area.
For the rest of the story, which is happening outside of CLAYCORD, click HERE.
{ 22 comments }
going back to the turkey story….
Whoa! That’s crazy scary. So many victims.
But good that he can’t hurt anyone else anymore.
“One officer fired one shot from a shotgun to disable the tires.”
Is this according to department policy ??
Didn’t I hear they found a dead female in his car? Is that who they saw in passenger seat? Was she alive in pleasant hill but dead by Richmond?
Thanks CHP for saving CA thousands and dealing with the scum promptly. Job well done.
@Yipes, this monster strangled her with a rope during the pursuit. She was alive and made a call on her cell for help, witnesses saw her waving out the window. I feel for all of the families involved.
Uncredible and inbelievable! Creepy and tragic. ‘Yipes’ brings up a good point.
Were they Filipino?
I was thinking the same thing Yipes.
I bet she was dead when the PHPD first saw them. He could not have choked her while driving and evading the police. I was on NB880 when this maniac came off the 238, rear wheel spitting our sparks, with TONS of CHP behind him including 2 unmarked cars (with lights) that you would *never* suspect to be law enforcement. I wondered at the time if that might be the guy they had been looking for. Scary, and so many victims.
I think the correct term is “spree killer”, not serial. Not that it matters to the victims I guess. Strange they discharge a weapon at a moving vehicle with a possible innocent inside and visible. But that’s the nice part about sitting here second guessing, no consequences.
They just found a dead body in the dumpster by Alfred E Nobel Drive in Hercules. He used to work at Bio-Rad as a security guard.
sooooooooooo scary and weird.
wow crazy.. im glad they shot and killed him but i would really like to know what made him kill those people.
Channel 5 news said that the woman was found dead in the trunk. I’m confused, were there 2 women in his car? How could one be in the passenger seat and one in the trunk?
She was alive in in the vehicle in Pleasant Hill and stangled during the pursuit. As far as the policy question the answer is YES. It would be within most policies in the State of California.
I think that’s awesome they are allowed to still shoot out the tires. I noticed Concord did that on the last pursuit as well. I don’t think a lot of departments will let you do that anymore. Good stuff.
this police chase passed me on 680 last night, by crow canyon. they were NOT doing over 80-90, more like 70 because he was going awfully slow on three wheels and dragging the left rear one-
“unmarked cars (with lights) that you would *never* suspect to be law enforcement”
You don’t get out much…do you ???
Sure…shooring at a car with inncoent people is OK– as long as the inncoent people don’t get shot…when in doubt ooen fire…now if they had just stopped the car– thee dead woman in the car would be alive…. comment on that
I’m worried this jackass came to PHILL to finish some business and we’re going to have another body on our hands. Psycho jackass. I heard reports that he had been terrorizing the women in Vallejo – i wonder why they never got the police involved and got restraining orders? He sounds like he’s been going crackers for quite awhile now.
Fred what are you talking about?
If you’re referring to the Pleasant Hill Officer shooting the tire of the spree killer’s vehicle, there were only two people in the car. The spree killer and his kidnap victim.
Now are you upset the officer shot the tire or are you upset the officer didn’t stop the vehicle because I’m confused.
It’s not like the officer shot the tire of person who refused to sign a traffic ticket. He shot the tire of a vehicle being driven by a wanted spree killer who had a kidnap victim inside. Perhaps the officer was afraid that if the spree killer escaped he might kill his kidnap victim, which unfortunately is exactly what happened.
I think the officer made a gutsy split second decision in a tense fluid situation. Unfortunately it was a front wheel drive car or this might have ended differently.
Suicide by cop, again.
Same cop both times. They should call him Officer Kevorkian.
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