Editorials

Berkeley Police Sgt. Cary Kent is taking a new direction in his investigation of the unsolved murder of Rick DeVecchi. He’s working with the hypnotized recollections of an eyewitness to the crime. 

“We have new possibilities on the plate. I don’t know how tangible they are until we investigate and we have over 300 possibilities to investigate,” he said. 

The owner of a trucking firm in the 1900 block of Second Street, DeVecchi was killed Dec. 17, 1998. Around 7:15 a.m. that day, he had walked over to a Cadillac driven by a man who up until then had been standing near a truck. He may have thought the man was delivering something, but the suspect may have been attempting a robbery. 

According to witnesses the driver of the older-model car deliberately accelerated and rammed DeVecchi, killing the 37-year-old husband and father of two children. 

The driver of the Cadillac sped off toward Hearst Avenue and then headed north on the Eastshore Highway toward Gilman Street. 

The vehicle is described as a 1970s or 1980s Cadillac similar to a Coup DeVille, white or cream-colored, with a dark vinyl top in poor condition. 

Kent said the witness who was hypnotized by a psychologist remembered more information about the license plate on the Cadillac. Kent says the witness added new letters and numbers to what he already had told police two years ago – that the letters CUS were on the license plate. 

However, he said, the witness was under high stress at the time of the murder. He saw the license plate while he was running to catch up with the Cadillac and that may have interfered with his ability to memorize the letters and numerals accurately. 

During the session with the psychologist the witness recalled new combinations. Kent said the department will investigate the different mathematical possibilities. He said he tried using an Excel program “but it just got to be too much.” 

The department already has a description of the suspect gleaned from witnesses and a broad survey of automobile related businesses, police traffic stops and the Department of Motor Vehicles. 

A composite sketch and description released by the Berkeley Police Department identifies the suspect as an African-American male, 5 feet, 11 inches tall, 185 pounds with black hair. 

In March, the national television program “America’s Most Wanted” profiled the murder and Kent followed up on numerous tips that came to his attention, but those did not lead to the suspect. 

Kent, who recently was promoted to the robbery detail, has been investigating the DeVecchi murder since February. It was at his request that the witness be hypnotized. He hopes the result will be a new break in the case. He said it’s not a final effort, that he has not yet exhausted all the avenues of investigation. This is another step, he said. 

While he’s investigating the new letters and numerals, his real aim is to elicit a tip from someone who knows who committed the crime, because the suspect revealed it to that person. 

“We really need this tip that hasn’t come in yet,” Kent said. 

There is a $35,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the suspect. 

A smaller reward of $5,000 will be paid, with no questions asked, for information leading to the identification of the Cadillac.