Whisper
August 31st, 2010, 05:51 PM
Berkeley police searching for person who sent wallet to crime victim
BERKELEY -- Earlier this summer, the mother of a 23-year-old man who was stabbed more than 25 times and robbed in North Berkeley four years ago received his wallet in the mail at her Orinda home.
Inside the manila envelope was Hamed Mirabdal's worn black wallet, and a scribbled note that said, "Hamed, found this while gardening on San Lorenzo Avenue in North Berkeley" and an illegible signature. It was written on a piece of Keller Williams Real Estate notepaper with an address at the bottom from an office in Pennsylvania.
There was no return address on the envelope that arrived July 13, nor was there any other information about the sender.
"They were shocked to find that (envelope)," said Ali Mirabdal, the victim's father, who runs a copy store in Berkeley "My wife called me, and I said to make sure not to touch it and to call Berkeley police."
The wallet had been stolen from Hamed Mirabdal, then 19, about 10 p.m. Oct. 15, 2006, when he was stabbed more than 25 times in his neck and chest area while on Poppy Lane in the Berkeley hills, police spokesman Sgt. Mary Kusmiss said. Papers and other personal property were stolen from him after the stabbing. Two pieces of identification were left in the wallet, including Mirabdal's driver's license.
He survived but had a massive stroke, was in a coma and eventually lost the use of left hand and part of the function in his right hand. He has an injury that will eventually require that he undergo open-heart surgery, Ali Mirabdal said.
Blake Anthony Mastro, 22, and Nicolas Flatbush, 26, later were arrested and charged in connection with the case. Mastro remains jailed without bail on attempted murder and second-degree robbery charges; Flatbush was charged with attempted murder and second-degree robbery and is free on $150,000 bail, court records show.
Berkeley police need the public's help in finding who sent the wallet. Officials say it cannot be entered into evidence unless prosecutors can show who sent it. Prosecutors must prove the "chain of custody" of an item entered into evidence to ensure that it has not been tampered with, police said.
In addition, if authorities can determine the exact location where the wallet was found on San Lorenzo Avenue, police say it could be a significant development in the case.
Detective Sgt. Emily Murphy has worked with Keller Williams to try to determine who sent the note, but she has been unsuccessful.
"We haven't gotten anything," she said. "No one has gotten back to me on the wallet. Unless I can say who found it, I can't use the evidence in court."
The past four years have been extremely difficult Hamed Mirabdal and his family.
Once a strapping football player at a Moraga high school, the 23-year old can no longer feed or dress himself as his nerves were severed in the assault and he suffers from excruciating nerve pain, his father said. He is able to attend Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, his father said.
[...]
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_15943418?source=most_viewed
http://i53.tinypic.com/2hoiq6g.jpg
Earlier this summer, Hamed Mirabdal received a manila envelope in the mail. When he opened it, he gasped. Inside was his wallet, stolen from him four years earlier during a brutal assault in which he almost died, and a note in the envelope. "Found this while gardening on San Lorenzo Avenue in North Berkeley." The signature was indecipherable, but the note was scribbled on stationary from Keller Williams, a national real estate chain. The address at the bottom of the paper was from an office in Pennsylvania. BPD detectives are searching for the person who mailed the envelope as the trial starts and the wallet can't be introduced into evidence unless they find who sent it
BERKELEY -- Earlier this summer, the mother of a 23-year-old man who was stabbed more than 25 times and robbed in North Berkeley four years ago received his wallet in the mail at her Orinda home.
Inside the manila envelope was Hamed Mirabdal's worn black wallet, and a scribbled note that said, "Hamed, found this while gardening on San Lorenzo Avenue in North Berkeley" and an illegible signature. It was written on a piece of Keller Williams Real Estate notepaper with an address at the bottom from an office in Pennsylvania.
There was no return address on the envelope that arrived July 13, nor was there any other information about the sender.
"They were shocked to find that (envelope)," said Ali Mirabdal, the victim's father, who runs a copy store in Berkeley "My wife called me, and I said to make sure not to touch it and to call Berkeley police."
The wallet had been stolen from Hamed Mirabdal, then 19, about 10 p.m. Oct. 15, 2006, when he was stabbed more than 25 times in his neck and chest area while on Poppy Lane in the Berkeley hills, police spokesman Sgt. Mary Kusmiss said. Papers and other personal property were stolen from him after the stabbing. Two pieces of identification were left in the wallet, including Mirabdal's driver's license.
He survived but had a massive stroke, was in a coma and eventually lost the use of left hand and part of the function in his right hand. He has an injury that will eventually require that he undergo open-heart surgery, Ali Mirabdal said.
Blake Anthony Mastro, 22, and Nicolas Flatbush, 26, later were arrested and charged in connection with the case. Mastro remains jailed without bail on attempted murder and second-degree robbery charges; Flatbush was charged with attempted murder and second-degree robbery and is free on $150,000 bail, court records show.
Berkeley police need the public's help in finding who sent the wallet. Officials say it cannot be entered into evidence unless prosecutors can show who sent it. Prosecutors must prove the "chain of custody" of an item entered into evidence to ensure that it has not been tampered with, police said.
In addition, if authorities can determine the exact location where the wallet was found on San Lorenzo Avenue, police say it could be a significant development in the case.
Detective Sgt. Emily Murphy has worked with Keller Williams to try to determine who sent the note, but she has been unsuccessful.
"We haven't gotten anything," she said. "No one has gotten back to me on the wallet. Unless I can say who found it, I can't use the evidence in court."
The past four years have been extremely difficult Hamed Mirabdal and his family.
Once a strapping football player at a Moraga high school, the 23-year old can no longer feed or dress himself as his nerves were severed in the assault and he suffers from excruciating nerve pain, his father said. He is able to attend Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, his father said.
[...]
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_15943418?source=most_viewed
http://i53.tinypic.com/2hoiq6g.jpg
Earlier this summer, Hamed Mirabdal received a manila envelope in the mail. When he opened it, he gasped. Inside was his wallet, stolen from him four years earlier during a brutal assault in which he almost died, and a note in the envelope. "Found this while gardening on San Lorenzo Avenue in North Berkeley." The signature was indecipherable, but the note was scribbled on stationary from Keller Williams, a national real estate chain. The address at the bottom of the paper was from an office in Pennsylvania. BPD detectives are searching for the person who mailed the envelope as the trial starts and the wallet can't be introduced into evidence unless they find who sent it