Carlos Dominguez, 21, ex-UC Davis student, arrested as suspect in deadly stabbings

Davis police announced the arrest Thursday of a 21-year-old former UC Davis student as the suspect in three stabbings that left two men dead and a woman critically injured.

Davis police Chief Darren Pytel said Carlos Dominguez, who was a student at UC Davis until last week and previously lived in Oakland, was arrested Thursday afternoon on two homicide counts and one attempted homicide charge.

“He is now at the Yolo County Jail and the district attorney will be reviewing reports in the coming days to determine charging decisions,” Pytel said, adding that in his mind Dominguez meets the definition of a “serial killer.”

“Based on the information that we have, the definition of a serial killer would apply,” Pytel said.

He added that detectives still are investigating a motive for the attacks, and that Dominguez was aware authorities were searching for him.

How police arrested suspect

The suspect was detained Wednesday at about 5 p.m. a block from Sycamore Park — the site of the second homicide last Saturday — after 15 separate callers phoned police to report seeing a man who matched the description of the suspect: long, dark curly hair and wearing black Adidas pants with a white stripe.

Pytel said one caller followed Dominguez from Sycamore Park until police arrived and stopped him about a block from the park. Dominguez went with police voluntarily, Pytel said, and police later found a “large knife” in his backpack.

Pytel said police do not know whether Dominguez may have been planning another attack when he was detained.

“What I can say is he was out wandering a neighborhood where the second homicide had occurred,” Pytel said. “He had a large knife and a backpack wearing the same clothes from the third stabbing.

“That’s highly unusual and unique. I think everybody will have to draw their own conclusions on that.”

The stabbings and their victims

The arrest comes after a series of knife attacks that began April 27 in Davis with the stabbing death of 50-year-old David Henry Breaux, who was found dead in the city’s Central Park.

Two nights later, on April 29, UC Davis senior Karim Abou Najm, 20, was stabbed to death at Sycamore Park.

The family held a private service for Thursday, the same day that police were announcing the arrest, and planned a public memorial for 4 p.m. Friday at the UC Davis International Center, 463 California Ave., Suite 3140.

The third attack came May 1 just before midnight when an assailant stabbed a homeless woman, identified by police as Kimberlee Guillory, multiple times through the side of a tent in a camp at Second and L streets.

The attacker was seen by witnesses at the camp and spotted running away toward downtown, but a massive search of the area and a shelter-in-place order for residents turned up no suspects. The woman survived the attack.

That week of attacks terrified residents of the normally peaceful community and students at nearby UC Davis, where security patrols were stepped up and night classes were being held remotely as police sought a suspect. UCD said night classes likely will resume Monday.

Suspect was a former student

UC Davis confirmed Dominguez was a student until April 25 when he was “separated for academic reasons.” The first stabbing happened two days later.

The university said Dominguez was majoring in biological sciences and was in his third year at the school. A listing for Carlos Reales Dominguez in the UC Davis directory shows a sophomore student majoring in biological sciences.

“We are partnering with law enforcement to provide access to any and all information as part of the investigation,” the university said in a statement. “We are providing support to any students who may have interacted with him.

“As we learn more and are able to provide updates that do not interfere with the ongoing investigation, we will do so.”

As a result of the stabbings, some downtown businesses and restaurants began closing early, and a farmers market scheduled for Wednesday night in Central Park was canceled.

Davis police have said they were hoping to use DNA evidence to pinpoint a suspect and were using the resources of the FBI, state Justice Department and the Sacramento County District Attorney’s crime lab to analyze evidence from the scenes.

In an update Wednesday afternoon, police said “biological evidence has been collected from each of the crime scenes and early returns are being analyzed to determine potential sources; no conclusions regarding source have been made at this time.”

Police added Thursday that evidence recovered includes blood evidence, fibers and trace evidence.

What authorities know about the suspect

Pytel said Thursday that some of the victims had fought back and that Dominguez “does have some injuries on his arms and hands.”

Pytel also said that police were not aware of any previous criminal history for Dominguez.

He said during questioning that Dominguez was “reserved, he spoke for a long time,” but he would not divulge details of whether Dominguez confessed or expressed remorse.

Initially, police were hesitant to link all three attacks, saying more investigation was needed.

But Pytel said Thursday that was no longer the case.

“At this point, we believe that all three are connected,” the chief said.

Pytel said detectives were still evaluating whether Dominguez may have known Abou Najm — the second victim — from classes or interactions on campus, where both were students.

“We have no information that he knew any of his victims,” Pytel said.

Dominguez was living in a rented home on Hawthorn Lane with roommates, and police and FBI agents were searching the residence Thursday.

The chief said investigators had spoken with the roommates, but declined to address whether they realized that Dominguez matched the description of the suspect they were seeking.

“We’re still going through the information they provided,” Pytel said.

Dominguez was expected to be arraigned in Yolo Superior Court on Friday, and officials said Thursday he was refusing all media requests for interviews.

Neighbors of arrested ex-student react

Police still had a portion of Hawthorn Lane blocked off late Thursday as they continued their search while neighbors watched from afar.

Lucas Hatton has lived on Anderson Road for about six years, just around the corner from the Hawthorn Lane home, and said he walks by the home all the time with his children, even borrowing books from the free community library kiosk next to the Hawthorn home.

“It is scary,” Hatton said. “It seems like he had some severe psychological issues going on. That he almost wasn’t trying to hide. I started to wonder if he wanted to be caught, because he was wearing the same pants that were described and he was just out for a stroll with his knife again.”

Hatton said he’s sad for the victims and for the suspect and his family and what they’ll have to go through in the aftermath of his arrest. He said it’s concerning how someone could feel so isolated and desperate, especially in such a tight-knit community like Davis.

The fear produced by these attacks left residents wondering how far this would go.

Hatton said “it was unsettling” hearing news of businesses closing early before dark, UC Davis making changes to its evening classes and his children being told they could skip soccer practice.

He said he and his children earlier this week were walking near their home and came across a man holding a baseball bat seemingly on patrol and warning them to stay inside because the “serial killer is out.”

“I think now we can move to a new chapter of healing and having conversations about how we get back to what we like about Davis,” Hatton said.

Ryan Johnson, a 20-year-old UC Davis student, lives in a home on Hawthorn Lane just down the street from Dominguez’s house.

Johnson said he didn’t know Dominguez or see him around campus, but he recognized his face after seeing photos of police detaining him on Wednesday. He said he might’ve even introduced himself to Dominguez a year ago, when Johnson first moved into the neighborhood.

“It’s definitely scary,” Johnson said after learning the wanted suspect in these brutal stabbings was a fellow UC Davis student. “It doesn’t really make a lot of sense ... to think that someone could have the potential to become a serial killer after he was taking biology.”

He said Davis residents can now breathe a sigh of relief knowing an arrest was made.

Johnson said he doesn’t know Dominguez’s roommates, and he said he never saw anything suspicious going on there. He said the homes along this streets are mainly occupied by college students who are mostly friendly with one another. He first noticed investigators at the home about 9 a.m. Thursday.

“Initially, I thought that maybe there was another body found (at the home),” Johnson said. “I said a little prayer and said ‘Please, please don’t be that.’ And I headed to class. But luckily it wasn’t.”

The Bee’s Stephen Hobbs, Jenavieve Hatch, Maya Miller, Maggie Angst and Ryan Lillis contributed to this story.