Perpetrators
A nationwide manhunt is under way for the fourth suspect in a home-invasion robbery and killing related to a Craigslist ad.The victim, 43-year-old Jim Sanders (pictured right), was fatally shot during a robbery in his Edgewood home on April 28 while his family was bound and beaten.Police identified the suspect as 23-year-old Clabon Berniard from SeaTac.Berniard moved to Washington from New Orleans in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina, and police said he has strong ties to Louisiana, where investigators are likely working with police. Law enforcement is also looking at a list of the man’s relatives.
Berniard has a history of crimes, most of which were committed in King County. Records show he was last in the county jail for investigation of drug possession in March, and on separate occasions between 2005 and 2009, he was convicted of robbery, burglary and theft.
Berniard is described as black, 5 feet 11 inches tall, 200 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. He is known to frequent Seattle, Kent and SeaTac, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Ed Troyer said. Police said he is known by the street name “G.”
“He knows we’re looking for him. We did a couple of operations (Wednesday), we weren’t able to locate him, so now we’re asking for the public’s help to try to get this guy caught,” said Troyer.
The fugitive is now charged with first-degree murder, first-degree robbery and second-degree assault, the same charges filed on three other suspects accused in the slaying.
The three other suspects, already in police custody, are 21-year-old Amanda Knight, 22-year-old Kiyoshi Higashi and 20-year-old Joshua Reese. A tearful Knight appeared in Pierce County court Wednesday. She pleaded not guilty to those charges as well as another series of charges including first-degree robbery, second-degree assault and one count of second-degree burglary.
In a strange twist, three years ago Berniard and his sister were given a “Citizen Life Saving” award for pulling two people out of a burning building in the Skyway area. At that time, fire victim Cherry Gray called Berniard “her angel” for pulling her out of that building.
Higashi and Reese remain in Redwood City, Calif. after they were arrested, along with Knight, in Daly City on unrelated charges. Knight bailed out, but turned herself in to police in Sumner Tuesday night.
The San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Jeff Dubois that the two men will be transferred to Washington before May 20, but wouldn’t provide a specific date “for security reasons.”
Troyer told KIRO 7 reporter Kevin McCarty on Thursday, “We believe the shooter is already in custody,” but did not say whether investigators thought the gunman was Higashi or Reese.
Police said Sanders was killed when four people, three men and a woman, entered his home on the premise they were interested in a diamond ring Sanders had posted on Craigslist. Sanders was shot and killed when he stepped in to protect his 14-year-old son, who was being pistol-whipped by the robbers.
Knight, Higashi and Reese are also suspected in a similar robbery in Lake Stevens, about 60 miles north of Edgewood, in which a couple said they were tied up and their home was ransacked by two men who said they were responding to their Craigslist ad for a flat-screen TV.