PORT HUENEME : 5 Bay Area Fugitives Arrested in Slaying

A statewide search for five fugitives wanted in connection with a Bay Area slaying Thursday morning ended 13 hours later in Port Hueneme, when police took the five into custody without incident.

The five, including an 18-year-old from Port Hueneme, were arrested on suspicion of killing a Sunnyvale man at a high school in Santa Clara and stealing his companion’s car, according to Santa Clara police.

Arrested were Steven Jon Bitz, 18, of Port Hueneme; Jeffrey Douglas Hall, 18, a transient; Jessica Rene Richie, 18, of Milpitas; Joseph Allen Franklin, 20, a transient; and an unnamed, 16-year-old girl.

The five were taken to the Port Hueneme Police Department, where they were held pending the arrival of investigators from Santa Clara.

The arrests took place just after 3 p.m., when Port Hueneme Police Officer Crissy Ceniceros spotted a Jeep Cherokee near Sunkist Street and Ventura Road that matched a description broadcast by Santa Clara police, said Port Hueneme Sgt. Fernando Estrella.

After backup officers arrived, Port Hueneme and Oxnard police officers stopped the vehicle and arrested the suspects at gunpoint, he said.

The five were sought as suspects in the slaying of Mark Douglas Berkey, 18, who had given Richie and the juvenile girl a ride to a Santa Clara high school after a Wednesday night concert in San Francisco, police said.

Santa Clara police said they received a call at 1:15 a.m. Thursday from a friend of Berkey’s, who told them that the five suspects had beaten him and stolen his vehicle after he discovered his friend had been killed.