Warwick man wanted in California murder arrested after attempting to steal boat
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (WLNE) — A Warwick man wanted for murder was arrested Sunday after allegedly attempting to steal a sailboat in California.
Surveillance footage from the Santa Cruz Harbor captured the moments when patrols say 27-year-old Austin Medeiros tried to steal a boat around 4 p.m. on Sunday.
Harbor patrols said they were initially confused when they saw one of their boats start to sail off.
“Three officers on the patrol boat went out into the channel to make contact with him, really for safety reasons because it was a potential rescue,” Harbor Master Blake Anderson said.
Officers said they quickly realized something wasn’t right when they approached Medeiros, and described his behavior as “erratic.”
Medeiros attempted to run back into the cabin area of the boat, but officers said they were able to grab him.
“He gave up pretty quickly. He says ‘I give up I give up’ and then he’s a little hard to comprehend but one key thing he said was there’s a loaded gun on board,” Santa Cruz Patrol Officer David Hill said.
After docking the boats, officers searched Medeiros and checked his records.
Harbor Patrol officers said they found a loaded gun and 29 grams of psychedelic mushrooms. They also learned Medeiros is wanted for murder in Humboldt County.
“We found out the history that he had a warrant for homicide so that’s when things ramped up a little bit,” Hill said.
Humboldt County sheriff’s investigators believe Medeiros killed 28-year old Emily Lobba. Lobba was found dead inside her home in Kneeland, California on April 3 by one of her caregivers.
The caregiver told police an unknown man answered the door, later identified by the sheriff’s office as Medeiros, and took off in Lobba’s car.
The vehicle was pursued, but the man then fled on foot.
Medeiros is being held in the Santa Cruz County Jail. He is being charged with murder, evading a peace officer, assault, battery and possession of a controlled substance.
His bail has been set at $1 million.
