A man was found guilty on Wednesday of killing a woman in cold blood as she pleaded for her life. Sentencing for Rickie Keefer, 60, of Antioch, Calif., for murdering Debbie Lynn Shandrew, 58, of Concord, Calif., is pending, according to The Mercury News.
Evidence at trial convinced a jury that Keefer stabbed Shandrew to death and left her body behind an automotive business at a shopping center in Contra Costa County, according to the newspaper. A security guard later found her remains.
“Please don’t do this,” Shandrew screamed in a chilling statement caught on audio, authorities said.
Cops believe Keefer forced his victim to perform oral sex on him before the murder, but prosecutors did not charge him with sexual assault.
Rickie Keefer, 58, a convicted felon in Illinois & CA, arrested by @ConcordPD in killing of woman found dead by security guard behind Dumpster on 2700 block of Clayton Rd. Surveillance footage led to images of car. Officer found suspect asleep in it the next day pic.twitter.com/NGoi13tKft
— Henry K. Lee (@henrykleeKTVU) August 24, 2018
JUST IN: Concord police arrest 58 year old Rickie Keefer on murder charges. Investigators say he killed a woman whose body was found Wednesday morning behind a store off Clayton Rd. Security cameras captured Keefer coming & going from crime scene say police pic.twitter.com/obXBJ3hied
— Jodi Hernandez (@JodiHernandezTV) August 24, 2018
Surveillance footage, which did not record the murder itself, captured Keefer as he walked past a camera with his face covered. The video linked Keefer to a car which officers later found in another part of town. Keefer was sleeping inside. The authorities linked bloody clothes in the trunk of the car to Shandrew’s death.
Keefer insisted that he randomly found the knives he possessed, authorities said. He was previously convicted of burglary and other charges in California and of robbery in Illinois. Prosecutors added an enhancement charge for using the knife in the murder.
A jury agreed with prosecutors that the evidence in the case all added up to first-degree murder.
[Booking photo via Contra Costa County]