Ronald Brewington, BART Station 'Jazzman', Arrested For Murder In 25-Year-Old Case (VIDEO)
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This week, Ronald Brewington -- the beloved Embarcadero BART station saxophone player, "The Jazzman" -- was arrested in Oakland. According to the U.S. Marshals Service, Brewington may be the killer in a 25-year-old cold case murder.
According to KOAT Albuquerque, authorities have been searching for Brewington since 1987 when he allegedly shot his estranged wife, Diedre, in her Albuquerque apartment. Police obtained a warrant for Brewington's arrest, but he vanished from New Mexico.
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After years of unsuccessfully chasing Brewington, the case was largely forgotten. But in 2011, the FBI and the Albuquerque Police Department Cold Case Unit reopened the case at the request of the victim's friend.
"Sometimes that's all it takes, said Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz to KOAT. "A family member or friend saying, 'Hey, what happened to that case?' Then we'll go back and look at it."
Albuquerque police claim that Brewington led authorities on an elaborate chase, using several different aliases and constantly moving around the country to evade arrest. According to Schultz, Brewington would date women with young children and use the children's social security numbers to find employment. Authorities think that Brewington may have been married several times since the 1987 murder.
But in a 2011 incident, Brewington used the same fake identification as he had used in a 2000 arrest, tipping officers off on his location.
"They were able to basically figure out where the offender was, that he had changed his name, that he had lived in several different places across the country and that he was currently in the Oakland, California area," said Schultz to KRQE.
Brewington is currently being held in federal custody, and will soon return to New Mexico.
Watch this video from KRON 4 about the arrest:
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First Posted: 02/10/2012 3:20 pm Updated: 02/10/2012 3:50 pm