Berkeley Man's Murder Still Unsolved After 2 Years, $20K Reward Offered
BERKELEY (CBS SF) -- The fiancée of Adolfo Ignacio Celedon Bravo marked two years after he was fatally shot in Berkeley by asking people to come forward to help police find and arrest his killers.
29-year-old Amber Nelson said Wednesday, "This is not a hopeless case. The only thing that's missing is a little more evidence."
Sept. 12, 2010, was Celedon's 35th birthday and he and Nelson were planning to get married in the near future. They had met in Chile, where he was from, in February 2008 when Nelson was vacationing there.
Celedon, nicknamed "Fito," moved to Berkeley a short time later while Nelson was completing her dual master's degrees in architecture and landscape architecture.
Nelson said Wednesday that on the day of the shooting they had planned to get up early to visit places in the Bay Area that he had never seen because they didn't own a car. She explained that they normally got around by bicycle but she had rented a hybrid car for their sightseeing venture.
But at 3:41 a.m. that morning, Celedon and Nelson were walking home from a party when two robbers attacked them at the corner of Adeline and Emerson streets, a block away from the Ashby BART station and several blocks from their home.
Berkeley police said that during the robbery, one of the suspects shot Celedon and one of them punched Nelson. Paramedics transported Celedon to a local trauma center, where he was pronounced dead.
Police said the two suspects were described by witnesses as black males between the ages of 25 and 35. They said the suspects fled in what was described as a dark older model sports utility vehicle.
There is a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect or suspects responsible for Celedon's murder.
The consulate general of Chile in San Francisco said in a statement, "This crime has a high priority and is a sensitive matter of concern to the Chilean government. We request the community and witnesses of this assassination to provide to the Berkeley police any piece of information that could be helpful to solve this investigation."
The consul said it hopes for a prompt solution "so that the family of Adolfo can achieve the peace they deserve."
Standing near the spot where Celedon was fatally shot, Nelson said, "Fito was a lover of life and was always smiling and loved the entire world. He wanted to change the world for the better."
Nelson said, "True justice would be bringing him back and rewinding time but that can never happen." She said, "The next best thing is to put this to closure" by arresting and prosecuting the people who killed him.
Nelson said, "I want to be able to focus on the wonderful memories I have of Fito and not this horrible tragedy."
Berkeley police said anyone with information about the fatal shooting should call their homicide unit at (510) 981-5741 or their non-emergency line at (510) 981-5900.
They said people who want to remain anonymous can call Bay Area Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.
(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
