Vigilante used sex offender registry to track, kill man, 71, in California, police say

A 29-year-old man in Northern California reportedly told police, “honestly really fun,” after he was arrested for allegedly killing a 71-year-old man he tracked using the state’s sex offender registry.

The Sept. 18 violence broke out just before noon in the 600 block of Upper Vinters Circle in Fremont, a city approximately 26 miles south of Oakland.  

According to a news release from the Fremont Police Department, the person who called 911 to report the incident stated that the victim, now identified as David Brimmer, was gravely injured.  

Responding officers located the unresponsive 71-year-old on the ground suffering from multiple stab wounds and immediately began life-saving measures. Brimmer, though, succumbed to his injuries and was declared dead at the scene.  

The suspect, Varun Suresh, was standing outside the residence when he was taken into custody and a knife believed to have been used in the deadly confrontation was recovered, police said.  

During an investigation into the alleged murder, police said Suresh admitted to using the California’s sex offender registry to find Brimmer and decided to target him because of his age and a 1995 conviction for lewd and lascivious acts with a child.  

The 29-year-old, according to the Los Angeles Times, then posed as a Certified Public Accountant trying to find new clients, going door-to-door until he found Brimmer.  

“Evidence at the scene indicated a violent struggle,” the release noted. “During the attack, Suresh chased the victim into an unrelated home to continue inflicting harm.”  

Investigators claim the 29-year-old said he’d had fun during the violent ordeal and that he “didn’t feel sad at all” and that he’d waited for years to kill a sex offender because of the trauma they cause children.  

Detectives also said that a screenshot of Brimmer’s home address, which was near the scene of the attack, was taken from the Megan’s Law website 45 minutes before the attack was reported to police.  

A federal and state mandate, Megan’s Law was enacted in 1994 after Megan Kanka was murdered by a sex offender living in her New Jersey community. Not only does the law require sex offenders to register with local law enforcement, but the California Department of Justice also provides this information to the public.  

On Sept. 22, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office charged Suresh with murder, being an armed Indvidual causing great bodily injury and residential burglary.  

He is being held without bail in Santa Rita Jail and is due to appear in court for a plea hearing on Oct. 14.