Do You Recognize This Man? Modesto Police Want A Word With Him
MODESTO (CBS13) — Modesto Police are asking for your help in identifying a person-of-interest in the case of a woman found dead in a driveway near several businesses in Downtown Modesto this week.
Police identified her as 47-year-old Christina Hill, a homeless woman who frequented the downtown area.
On Thursday, police released surveillance video of a man they believe is either a witness or a suspect.
"There were several different surveillance feeds in the area that captured that gentleman so we are looking to identify him to determine if he was a witness or involved in the crime," said Sgt. Kalani Souza.
The video posted to YouTube shows a shirtless man covered in tattoos inside the Quick Stop convenience store on the corner of Burney and La Loma Monday Afternoon.
"It's a horrible thing," said Cornell Militaru, who owns Cornell's Records on 18th and G streets.
The video captured the man just one hour after Militaru said he discovered Hill's body in the driveway behind his store.
"I walked out the gate here ready to go to the car and just happened to see that body laying there. I just froze for a second. I didn't want to panic," he said.
The clerk inside the Quick Stop told CBS-13 that he's worked there for three months and has never seen the man police identified as the person-of-interest.
He did, however, recognize the victim. He said she frequented the store and described her as a "nice person."
"She is a member of our local transient population," said Sgt. Souza. "We have spoken to several of her friends and relatives and that has been confirmed."
Police said they are also looking for a woman they too identified as a person-of-interest in the case.
"A lot of our investigation is riding on the identification of the male subject that we released earlier on our social media and then the upcoming female we're going to release," said Souza.
If you know who the persons of interest are or have information that may help with the investigation, call Crime Stoppers at 209-521-4636 or email Detective Guffey at Guffeyg@modestopd.com.