Young Woman's Fatal Stabbing is Berkeley's First Homicide of the Year

Police have no motive and won't say if suspect and two victims knew each other.

Berkeley police say a suspect who fled to Southern California is in custody in the case of two stabbings, one of which was deadly and whose victim, a young woman, became the first homicide of the year.

Sgt. Andrew Frankel said Wednesday that 24-year-old North Hollywood resident Pablo Gomez Jr. was arrested by Burbank police on Saturday and is being held at a Los Angeles County jail.

Frankel said Gomez will be interviewed and brought back to Northern California to face homicide and aggravated assault charges in Alameda County. Police say they have no motive yet in the case and would not say if the suspect knew the victims.

Gomez is suspected of stabbing two young women on Friday. One woman was found at a home in on the north side of the Berkeley campus. She was taken to the hospital with serious stab wounds but is expected to recover. 

The investigation led officers to another address on Ashby Avenue where they found a violent scene and eventually discovered the body of a second victim.

The victim, Emilie Inman, a 27-year-old teacher at Sienna Ranch in Lafayette, had been missing since Friday. Berkeley police identified her on Wednesday.

Chris Lauf, the nature center’s director, wrote in a statement on the center's website that he had received many messages from families of current and former students who remembered her as a passionate and creative teacher who “challenged her students and coworkers to be their best selves, to live life bravely and beautifully.”

Gomez was a UC Berkeley student and a Chicano/a Studies major.

Gomez was involved with the Alliance for Climate Education from 2012 to 2015, said ACE Executive Director Matt Lappe. He added that Gomez's suspected connection to the stabbings is a total shock.

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