Davis police make arrest in serial stabbings

By Lauren Keene Enterprise staff writer

The nearly week-long manhunt for a brazen killer ended Thursday with the arrest of a 21-yearold Davis man who, it turned out, returned to the scene of his own alleged crime.

Police formally arrested Carlos Reales Dominguez in connection with Davis’ three stabbings shortly after 1 p.m. Thursday, a day after detaining him on Pine Lane and Colby Drive, where more than a dozen citizens reported seeing him wandering through Sycamore Park and the surrounding neighborhood.

He now faces two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder for the killings of David Henry Breaux, 50, in Central Park; 20-year-old Karim Abou Najm in Sycamore Park; and the attack on Kimberlee Guillory, 64, at a homeless camp at L and Second streets.

Dominguez is listed as a UC Davis sophomore studying biological sciences on the university’s online directory, but as of April 25 “was separated for academic reasons,” campus officials said in a statement. They did not elaborate.

He previously lived in Oakland, where he played high-school football and ran track. He also aspired to become a doctor, according to an online profile for a medical internship in which he described “how health care can be fun.”

“Maybe people think it’s boring or it’s scary if you’re a surgeon and you see all that blood, but saving someone’s life makes you feel good about yourself,” Dominguez said.

Dominguez declined an interview request Thursday from The Davis Enterprise.

Earlier Thursday, police erected crime-scene tape on Hawthorne Lane south of West Eighth Street, where Dominguez lived with several roommates, Police Chief Darren Pytel confirmed. Both are short walking distances from the two parks. His arrest sent a wave of relief through the city as well as the Davis Police Department, which extended officers’ shifts and called in dozens more personnel from surrounding law-enforcement agencies to safeguard an anxious community and solve an unprecedented crime spree.

Pytel said Dominguez had

“physical evidence that was apparent on him” at the time he was detained, including biological evidence, and injuries to his hands and wrists consistent with a struggle. A pat-down revealed a large double-edged knife found in his backpack that “was consistent with the knife we were looking for from the first crime.”

Detectives continue to investigate the motive for the attacks. Pytel said it’s unclear whether Dominguez knew any of the victims.

“There’s still a significant amount of work being done, including analyzing all the evidence that’s being collected today,” as well as DNA, fingerprint and fiber comparisons, Pytel said.

As for the community at large, which saw event cancellations, early business closures and other precautions taken due to safety concerns, “I have no doubt that normal life will resume today,” he added.

The family of Karim Abou Najm, a UCD student who planned to graduate in six short weeks with a computer science degree, held services for him on Thursday and said they would comment on the arrest in the coming days.

Maria Breaux, whose brother David became known as “Compassion Guy” in Davis for his years of work to raise awareness of the term, told The Enterprise